Lieutenant Espada
by tHeEviLjOkEr
Summary: What will a normal girl do when she suddenly finds herself becoming part of Aizen's army, when two weeks ago, her school holidays had just started? And how does that lead to her joining the Gotei 13? Meet Yoruka Chizuki, a magnet for trouble and troublemakers. Quite a few OCs though only one main one. Don't like, don't read. Temporarily Off-hiatus-Refer to my profile for details.
1. Chapter 1: Silver End

Chapter 1: Silver End

"_A soothsayer bids thee, 'Beware the ides of March.'" ~ Shakespeare, Julius Caesar_

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The silver crescent hung low in the night sky like an icy scythe ready to descend onto an unlucky passerby. It was nine in the evening and I had just finished my holiday homework. Yes, I know I was supposed to complete it over the two months of hols given to us and it was just the second day of the holidays, but I'd rather spend my next sixty days having fun instead of mugging away at the homework Narabe-sensei had given us. That idiot teacher was the only one who gave us any homework actually.

A loud crash resounded in the kitchen. I vaguely wondered if my parents had come back to life and was now pouring out their wrath over what they would have deemed as an 'untidy' home. They were neat-freaks after all. Then again, my imagination had always been a bit too wild. Of course the dead don't come back to life. Their souls sometimes do linger around though, but shouldn't be able to create much chaos. Nope. Instead, there were six huge masked creatures destroying my poor kitchen. Now I had seen spirits before, which was due to some weird ability, but I had never seen these monsters before.

Then they noticed me standing there taking in the nightmare unfolding in front of me. Damn it. I ran out of the apartment and leapt off the corridor. It was only four floors to the ground (I've fallen from greater heights and so far, I've only twisted an ankle before) but to add to the nightmare, of course those creatures could float. By the time I reached the road, they were upon me.

Throwing me into the air and whacking me with a gigantic tail, I reeled and somersaulted to the ground. Nausea was the first thing i felt. Then an awesome headache. That was when I realized my body was a few feet away. What. The. Heck. And there was a suspicious chain connecting me to my body. I'm guessing that's my lifeline and I was in no hurry to get rid of it. Too bad, those creatures attacked me again and the negative energy that poured out from them was suffocating. I panicked, and did something I had not done for a long time. I screamed. I wasnt used to being the 'damsel in distress' but I was going to die… or maybe I was already dead. I didn't know, but I was too afraid to care. What on earth were these things? They looked like those weird spirits you only see in myth-based animes or something **(A/N: anyone watched Gibli's Spirited Away animation before?)**Everything was happening too fast.

Then, just like in some anime or something, my savior arrived, in black and white robes billowing in the wind complete with a short sword. Was he some Edo-Japanese warrior spirit or something? But warriors don't wear kimonos when they fight do they? From what I could see, he was young, though I couldn't really tell the age, and he had short silver hair. Then he promptly killed three of those creatures with one slice of his sword. Heck. I didn't even see his sword move. What was he? Where did he and these strange monsters come from? Maybe he was some fox-spirit (and judging from his fox-like face and mischievous grin i wouldnt be surprised.) this sounds stupid, but i think i like him already. Why did my life seem to spin so wildly out of control? Was this a dream? Yeah right. If this were a dream, i dont think my body (spiritual or not) would hurt so much.

Suddenly, one of those creatures that resembled a scorpion raised its barbed tail ready to strike. What happened next was also a blur. The next thing I knew, blood sprayed everywhere. Crap, did that silver-haired guy get killed? But he was definitely still behind me. I could feel his shock radiating off him. Then… wait a minute… since when was he behind me? I don't think my brain was functioning properly then, because I realized that I was the one who had moved, the blood was mine and the chain was broken. Then where was the pain?

The scorpion-thing roared and leapt into the air, the two others followed. It occurred to me that those three looked different from the other now-dead three. They seemed… whiter and more skeletal, if that made any sense. The guy looked from me to them. He was no longer smiling but had a really cute confused expression. I numbly waved him on. Who knew what might happen to some other innocent kid if he didn't get rid of them soon.

"I'll be back," he said, and then he disappeared. I vaguely wondered if he knew how to carry out spirit-first-aid. The night was silent after they left, and I don't know how long I stay there on the ground, blood flowing from my chest and lying next to my body. I was really tired, numb and dazed. Approximately an hour later, I saw another of those creatures, but not the same ones as before. Then the pain came and i knew, this was no dream. The pain was real enough. Too real. Black spots seemed to grow before my vision and blocked out everything else. And when I fell unconscious, my last thought was: he didnt come back.

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**So, how's my first chapter? Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2: Fast Foward

Chapter 2: Fast Forward

**Second chapter's up! Hope you'll like it. I think it could do with a bit of improvement, though, so give your feedback. ^_^**

**Disclaimer: ****I don't own Bleach (no matter how badly I wished I did) and if I did (note: this is a spoiler) Ichimaru Gin would bloody well still be alive! *Sob*... Anyways, just enjoy the story!**

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"_It would be interesting to find out what goes on in the moment when someone looks at you and draws all sorts of conclusions."_

When I regained consciousness, I felt different. Empty. Hollow. As if something was seriously missing. But I didn't know what it was, couldnt remember what i could possibly be missing. It was still night and my body was stilling aching with dried blood coating half my body, but the moon was full, instead of waning. I blinked, taking in my surroundings. The place was an eerie cold desolate wasteland that seemed to stretch for milee all around me. Black trees sprawled here and there like skeletal hands reaching for the sky, sharp cold wind forming dunes in the sand. A lone white building resembling a fortress of some sort sat on the horizon in the distance. Then I noticed a tall white robed guy towering over me. He had brilliant blue hair and a hole in his abdomen. He reminded me of a humanized version the creatures that attacked me seemingly centuries ago. Their negative energy were quite similar.

"Now what do we have here," he sneered. "Let's see what Aizen has to say about this." Following that, I found myself flying. Apparently, he had gotten hold of me and was dragging me behind him, except that he was moving so fast that I'm pretty sure we were no longer on the ground. All the while I was being dragged, I heard him muttering to himself something about being promoted. Who the hell was this guy? I seem to be asking this question a lot now.

We reached the big white building that I had seen earlier and I was greeted with more white people. I was constantly treated like some package that needed delivering to this Aizen guy. His name seemed somewhat familiar though. The thought kept nagging at the back of my mind and I finally concluded that some of my memories were missing. At least I could still remember my own name… crap. What was my name? Ah hell.

"Grimmjow," a voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked up. Who was he calling? Oh, the blue-haired guy. Funny, i thought the name seemed familiar too. They exchanged some words that I couldn't catch, and then looked at me. The owner of the voice had wavy brown hair and a kind—too kind, in my opinion—face. Could that be Aizen? He dismissed Grimmjow and the blue-haired guy reluctantly left.

"Adjucha, what's your name?" Aizen turned to me and asked. Adjucha? What was that? I shrugged, "Blood?" That was the first thing that popped into my mind. I swear the guy looked amused.

"Well then, Sangre, welcome to Las Noche. I have taken interest in your vast amount of reiatsu. You will become an arrancar and join my ranks." Sangre? Spanish, for blood. Now where did I learn that? It was undeniably an order, yet the guy somehow managed it to sound like a request. I got the feeling that we weren't going to get along very well.

Aizen beckoned me forward. I hesitantly obeyed. The energy radiating off him was heavy. I fainted. Again. But not before I caught a look at myself in the mirror that hung at one end of the white room. White. White. White. Even I was white, and dressed in nothing but some kind of skeletal armor that made me look like a dragon. Hmm…. Interesting.

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_There was a lot of killing. I was hungry. All around me were Hollows, just like I was. But they were Gillian, a lower class than I was. Already the other Adjuchas respected me, for I had evolved from a mere Hollow to a second stage Menos in a matter of two weeks. My reiatsu was the highest amongst them all, and I aimed to become a Vast Lorde. Perhaps even an arrancar, if I could gain Aizen's recognition. I knew of a panther-Adjucha who became an arrancar not to long ago. I had gone on from consuming ordinary Hollows to devouring my fellow Adjuchas. But a few Gillians shouldn't be a problem. After all, they had failed to follow my orders. I annihilated a few with a cero and tore up the rest. I smirked. At this rate, becoming a Vast Lorde should not be a problem. Hopefully, no shinigami would get in the way._

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I woke up terrified. I had wished to find out what was wrong with my memories and now I knew the answer. It was too much to take in. Two weeks! And my holiday was ruined. Damn it all. What happened to hanging out with Hana-chan and Aki-chan, going out for movies and invading the library? This was all very confusing. And now, I was sitting in a room that resembled a lab. I seriously needed a mirror. With all that happened in a mere two weeks, I couldn't be too sure of how often my appearance would change.

I looked into the reflection on the shiny surface of one of the machinery there, I found myself looking a great deal more human than my previous form, much to my delight. However, my long black hair was gone and replaced with short black hair streaked with golden highlights, my side bangs pinned up by a white skeletal hair accessory that extended to the back of my head and ended in a dragon horn. Instead of my violet eyes—which were of an odd enough color—I now had one eye blood red and the other sky blue. Creepy, like the bad guys in some of the anime I've watched before. I frowned. A streak of black ran down my right eye (the blue one) starting from my forehead down to my cheekbone where it split and formed the number 17. Seems like I have no need to get a tattoo done anymore. I ended my analysis of myself with the hole just below my collarbone, half-hidden by the fitting black shirt (which revealed my entire waist and belly button—something I was not too comfortable with) that I wore underneath a black and white cropped jacket (which was at least a little longer than my shirt). My pants were white with black patterns and the ends of the pants legs were tucked into a pair of sleek black boots. I deduced that I had at least fulfilled my wish when I was an Adjucha to become an arrancar.

Now where was Aizen?

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**Second chapter up! How did'cha like it?**


	3. Chapter 3: The Great Sword

**Chapter 3 is up! Hope you have been enjoying the story so far. Please review and let me know if you feel certain parts need improving, it is my first time after all. **

**p.s. I do not own Bleach (unfortunately T_T)**

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Chapter 3: The Great Sword

"_There's nothing like biting off more than you can chew, then chewing it anyways."_

As soon as the thought came to mind, he walked into the room. Speak of the devil and the devil appears. I was pretty sure Aizen could fit into the category of devil indeed. Seeing me standing in front of my reflection, he smiled. I did not like his smile. Nope, not at all. It was polite, but seemed kinda insincere. Then again, my friends sometimes complained about my own smile too. I raised an eyebrow.

"Looks like you're adjusting quite well. Come. Follow me," Aizen said and exited the room.

"Hai, Aizen-sama," I muttered under my breath, as I followed him out of the room and into the corridor, suddenly feeling like a dog. I wonder what made me fancy being under his command when I was an Adjucha.

He led me to another white room where a few arrancars were lounging about. He introduced me to them and the system that worked around there. They were Grimmjow's fraccions, servants of the Espada—an exclusive group of elite arrancars. Most of their reiatsus were familiar though. I wondered if any of them were once fellow Adjuchas. However, as soon as Aizen left the room, four of them promptly attacked me. What a pleasant welcome party they were. I definitely did not know those brutes.

Swinging around, I gave the unfortunate soul behind me a flying kick. It connected to the side of his head with a satisfying thunk! I smirked. Looks like Hollowfication did not help improve my previously mild sadism at all. The next three numeros ended up with bloody faces and bruises all over. Satisfied, I grinned my insincere have-a-nice-day grin to the remaining conscious arrancars and walked out of the room. Sixteen seconds to take out four numeros. Not bad.

I wandered around Las Noche, exploring the place for about half-an-hour and catching glimpses of other arrancars but constantly remaining out of their line of sight to avoid another fight. But in the end, I got caught by a large arrancar with white hair and looked like an ancient king of some sort. I gulped. It wasnt his height that mattered, he was about the same height as i. But his stocky build and muscular body was terrifying.

"Hey you little termite! Where is your respect for your great ruler?" He glared at me from his white throne. (A/N: I'm not too sure if that is how Barragan should speak, so correct me if I'm wrong) His fraccions in turn glared at me. Termite? I had no doubt that he was referring to me. Damn my luck. He was probably one of the Espadas.

"Gomenasai, O' Great Barragan!" I cried and hastily retreated. It was generally a sincere apology, though I could not help but let a bit of sarcasm drip onto my last few words. I was pretty sure that the last time I checked, Barragan had been dethroned by Aizen, and wanted to mock him further, but I wasn't sure I wanted to risk my life doing just that. Unfortunately for me, he and his fraccions weren't keen on letting me go just like that. Out came their swords and out shot my leg. I knocked out two of the fraccions nearest to me, and I was sure one of the others lost all the manhood any arrancar could possibly have. The last one was unintentional though, it was done purely on instinct. Then I ran away as fast as I could. Too bad they caught up so fast.

Screaming curses and insults, the remaining few fraccions was suddenly sent flying. I looked behind them and saw Barragan approaching. He had probably gotten tired of watching us and our pathetic fight, and that was bad news. Bad news indeed. Would it be too late to plead for my life? Probably. I didn't see the cero until it hit me.

Oh great, I thought, as I spun seemingly slow-motion into the air and feeling like I was going to burst into flames any moment, looks like I'm really gonna die this time round. Just then, I heard a voice.

_Do you want to?_ Shit, now I was hearing voices. I must have gone mad, either that or that was just my jimmy cricket, sub consciousness or whatever talking to me. Hell, of course not! Whoever wants to die so early? And now I was answering the voice. Just wonderful.

_Then don't. You have a sword. Block the attack. Then counter it. Use your brains._ A sword? I had a sword? I fumbled around my waist, half-blind from the light. It wasn't there. That was when I noticed a weight on my back. I reached behind me and found the bandaged hilt of a large sword. I grabbed it and swung the sword around, tearing the sash that had previously strapped it to my back. (I had seriously no idea it was there until now, not even when I checked myself out in the mirror.) Spiritual energy poured through me and predator instincts that I had gained and forgotten when I was an Adjucha came back to me.

The cero split in half when I sliced it with my sword, though my most of my jacket had been blasted off by it. When the smoke cleared, I saw Barragan standing there; crown and all looking like some Greek god (maybe Zeus). I focused on him and leapt. Within less than a second, I had landed behind him. I grinned. Seems like my speed had improved five times over. Bringing my sword down onto him as he turned, I managed to knock off his crown, but missed slicing his head when his own sword came to meet mine. I didn't wait for him to speak (I didn't want to hear another word from him) and immediately slammed the flat of my sword into his head and rendered him unconscious. It was only then that I realized that this was Barragan Luisen that I had knocked out, former lord of Hueco Mundo, and current member of the Espada. Dazed, I began listing down the events that have occurred since two weeks ago when I was still a normal teenager beginning her school holidays.

Number 1: I got attacked by a group of Hollows

Number 2: A shinigami came to my rescue but I turned into a Hollow myself in the end.

Number 3: I became part of a Gillian and took over the rest of the Hollow identities.

Number 4: I became an Adjucha (killing many other hollows in the process) and was found by an Espada.

Number 5: Aizen who was interested in my reiatsu turned me into an arrancar.

Number 6: I have just beaten up four fellow numeros (not counting Barragan's fraccions) and one Espada.

Number 7: Probably get killed by Aizen for violence in his domain. (though this has yet to happen, and hopefully will not happen. I'm counting on the fact that Hollows in general are naturally violent so that he will spare my life)

I took one last glance at Barragan and noticed two huge holes on opposite walls of the wide corridor that had been made by the split cero. And beyond one of the holes in the opposite room stood… guess who? Yep, it was no one other than Lord Aizen himself. Ah hell.

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**Next chapter next week! XD**


	4. Chapter 4: Segunda Espada

**Chapter 4 is here! My thanks to TheBeginnningsEnd for taking the time to review my work so far. ^^ **

**I only own the OCs and nothing else.**

**Enjoy.**

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Chapter 4: Segunda Espada

"_Always hope for the best, and expect the worst."_

"Had a pleasant day, Sangre?" Aizen asked in his suspiciously polite tone. I bit my tongue, for fear that some unwelcome retort would come up and destroy whatever hope I have left of living. He looked at me with that infuriating amused look on his face when he saw that was not going to answer him.

"So how does it feel having defeated both your peers as well as your senior?" He raised an eyebrow at this. I couldn't stand his politeness. I gave him my I'm-enjoying-myself almost-sadistic smile.

"Yes, very well, thank you." Then I followed it up with a How-may-I-help-you sarcastic smile. However, he seemed all the more amused with my smiles. I seethed, but continued having the smiley mask on. I couldn't keep the smile from turning into a full-on dazzling smile that I reserved for exclusive people though. Only Hana-chan and Aki-chan could knew how deadly the smile was. Then again, quite a number of people have frozen under the smile before. Perhaps it was a mite too icy. Oh well, back to the situation at hand, Aizen seemed to be contemplating something and ignoring me. Figured with his humongous amount of reiatsu and all that he'd be one of the few that did not react to the smile much.

"Come with me," he said finally and turned his back on my smile and I. Now how many times have I heard that already? He continued to talk as we walked.

"You know, I can't have my arrancars going around and killing one another as and when they feel like it. Especially when I've only just started building my army. You've not only attacked your fellow numeros, but also one of my precious Espada." He paused. I waited for the verdict. "However, seeing as all of them are evidently still alive, I will not eliminate you just yet. I think you will be of great use to me."

YES! I mentally whooped and celebrated my survival. I wondered what great use could I be to him though? It sounded kind of suspicious. I nearly ran head first into him when he stopped abruptly. We were now facing the entrance of a hall (it looked like a conference room of sorts) where there was a long table and seated around it were a few arrancars. I had seen some of them during my exploration trip round Las Noche before Barragan came after me. Crap. What is Aizen planning to do with me?

I examined everyone in the hall. It seemed like Aizen had called an Espada meeting and I was the subject of the meeting. There was weird looking arrancar whose entire head was hidden in some kind of helmet, another who looked like a kitchenware mascot, and another who could easily be Aries personified. There was also an emo dude and a sleeping gangster (he looked sort of cool though). Then I spotted the arrancar called Grimmjow. He looked extremely pissed for some reason (I hope it wasn't because of my little victory over his fraccions.)

"Welcome, my Espadas, today there will be a new member in the team. She is Sangre and will be replacing Barragan as Segundo Espada," Aizen announced when all attention was turned to him (the sleeping guy woke up). My eyes grew so wide I thought they were going to pop out. Seriously? Not only did Aizen pardon my life, he also gave me a place in his team of Espadas? I must be dreaming.

A murmur rippled throughout the room following Aizen's announcement, though the emo guy's face remained emotionless. Grimmjow still looked pissed, but was that a hint of excitement and curiosity I see in his posture? The Aries-girl spoke up.

"What happened to Barragan?" More murmurs. She had a point. What did Aizen do with Barragan after my attack? Or rather, what could did he have his arrancar servants do while he lead me to the conference room?

"He is henceforth a Privaron Espada. We have no need for weaklings such as an Espada who gets badly beaten up by a newly-born arrancar." Silence followed as eyes turned in my direction. It was actually kind of creepy, but Aizen continued to speak, this time, introducing the other Espadas to me, "Coyote Stark is the Primera Espada (I noticed that was the sleeping guy), Neliel is Tercer Espada (the Aries personified), Uluquiorra's cuarto (emo guy), Grimmjow's sexto…. (I tuned out the rest of what he said)"

"That is all. Grimmjow, meet me in my office. The rest of you are dismissed. The meeting is over," Aizen then closed the meeting (quite abruptly too) and the other Espadas filed out of the room, a few of them giving me backward glances as they exited. As Aizen left the room, he ordered someone named Ichimaru Gin to 'wake up' and 'orientate' me, 'the new Espada'. To my utmost surprise, someone stepped out of the shadows in answer to his command. I had not even notice his presence until now. I looked him over.

The guy had silver hair with a purple-ish tint, the face of a fox and closed eyes, while the aura he emitted was a silent coiling type. He was wearing a white haori over a black kimono and hakama and a sword by his side, and definitely not an arrancar or any hollow for that matter. If I wasn't wrong, he was a shinigami. Come to think of it, Aizen too. And what the both of them were doing with hollow business I have no idea. What I did know was that I remember seeing this guy before and I could hardly believe it.

Ichimaru gave Aizen a curt reply and a grin, like that of a snake before it strikes. (No wonder Aizen was not only immune but also amused at my poisonous smiles.) Then he turned to me saying, "New Espada eh? That's…"

He stopped short, words faltering and his smile slipped, if only a bit. Seems like he remembers me too.


	5. Chapter 5: Foxface Ichimaru

**Hey people, chapter's here! XD Please keep reviewing and thanks to those who have. I may not be writing anytime soon, so my next chapter's gonna come out late. Gomenasai! Oh, and please note, the plot may be a lil' different from the actual anime: this is set before Rukia enters the human world (i know this doesn't tally with Aizen's plot and all, but I'll find a way to fit it in)... **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of their characters.**

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Chapter 5: Fox-face Ichimaru

"_A smile confuses an approaching frown. It's also an inexpensive way to change your looks."_

Ichimaru Gin, shinigami assistant of Aizen, and killer of hollows. That was all I knew about that guy, and all of it did not make any sense. If he kills hollows, then why was he helping Aizen with all this hollow business? And why are there two shinigami in Hueco Mundo in the first place. I had a strong feeling that they were not the only ones around here either. So what do you say to the person who came to your rescue when you were a human and attacked by hollows and failing miserably in saving your soul anyways? I had no idea.

"Have we met before?" Ichimaru Gin restarted the conversation, smiling once again politely (in my opinion, far too innocently). Maybe he really didn't remember me after all, but I had my suspicions, not that I was complaining. I didn't really care nor feel like talking about what happened that night and his failure anyways. Surprisingly, I didn't mind his grin as much as I minded Aizen's face. I remember taking a liking to him that night just because of his grinning foxface.

"Does that matter?" I asked. I decided not to answer his question, though one can guess from my reply that there is a high possibility that we have indeed met before. I replying in this way, where your reply can contain many different meanings, so it's up to the other person to guess what I'm implying. He held a thoughtful look before turning around, back facing me. He waved me forward without looking back and went on his way. I had no choice but to just tag along as Aizen had mentioned that that snake was to 'orientate me' which I assume meant showing me around (though I had explored most of the place) and I had no idea (despite all that exploring) where my quarters were. Surely they do not expect me to just sleep in the courtyard or something.

The walk was quiet and both of us stayed silent, though I suspected that fox had a smirk on his face. He radiated smugness and satisfaction (though something didn't quite feel right and I had a nagging suspicion). We continued soundlessly (referring to both the lack of conversation and the silent footfalls of our shoes) until we bumped into Barragan, his fraccions and Grimmjow's fraccions. From the way they greeted me, I assumed that they had yet to be informed of my new Espada status.

"You miserable termite! How dare you go against me?" yelled Barragan. His faithful lapdogs got into battle stance right on cue.

"Don't think you've beaten us yet. It's payback time. By the end of this, we'll be dragging you crying to Grimmjow and he'll deal with you," cried one of Grimmjow's irritating fraccions. Oh dear me, I must have injured their pride too much and now they're all out for revenge. Now how am I supposed to beat all of them without killing them off (by cero) and right in front of that Ichimaru snake too? Sure, Barragan tried to kill me the first time he saw me but I couldn't just assume that I could annihilate them just like that (Barragan was not a reliable example when it came to stuff like this). Besides, I don't think Grimmjow would take it very well if I did anything else to his fraccions. No matter.

"Are you sure you even have the capabilities to do so?" I asked sweetly, honey dripping from my words. I figured that it should be all right to stomp on their pride – it was injured already anyways. (Okay, maybe I was being extra cruel, but who cares? They deserved it.) I accompanied my question with the suitable you're-gonna-die-a-horrible-death sadistic smile, daring them to take me on. And if they understood the warning behind those words and the smile, then they would avoid certain death, and I wouldn't have to kill them.

Sure enough, my fellow numeros sweat-dropped and began to back away. It seems like they weren't as dumb as I though they were. However, Barragan was not to be deterred from his goal i.e. killing me. He began to emit a terrible amount of reiatsu, at least three times greater than when I defeated him. I briefly considered using a creepier nightmare smile as I subsequently increased my reiatsu level as well. All of his fraccions began to pull him away desperately (which was no mean feat: I was surprised Barragan did not cero them all for doing that) until they were out of sight. Grimmjow's fraccions hurried after them. Now that I knew I could have easily taken them on, I half-wished I had stopped them with an icy smile so that I could have more fun messing with their minds.

"Ya ain't gonna kill them?" I spun around, suddenly remembering that Ichimaru Gin was still there watching the entire thing. I had a feeling that those foolish arrancars that just ran away had not noticed that snake was there when they came to attack me. He stood there, half in the shadow of the wall, and evidently smiling. He seemed a little surprised and… curious. I wondered about that.

"Nope," I answered, matter-of-factly. "If I do, I won't get any more fun with them."

He just looked kind of amused, a trait I now associated with Aizen. Whatever was so amusing about what I say? Maybe all shinigamis were like that, I don't know. He chuckled at my irritated face then continued walking on. I shrugged, sighed and just followed him. I didn't really expect him to explain his sense of humor anyways. I figured my own sense of humor was not quite right either.

Ichimaru Gin led me to my room deep in the humongous building. The door was white, the walls were white, the floor and ceiling was white, even the desk at one corner was white, not to mention the bed, sheets and pillows. Why was everything in this palace white? The room was as luxurious as a prison cell could be. I made up my mind that the first thing I'd do when I was free would be to personalize my room. I considered painting everything black just to mock Aizen.

"Ya seriously gonna do that?" asked Ichimaru from behind me. Crap. I must have said my thoughts aloud. I looked behind me. Was that smile of his permanently stuck on his face? I wondered whether he was going to tell on me, then decided that Aizen probably wouldn't mind me voicing out my opinions on his taste of color. He didn't seem like the petty sort of person.

"Maybe," I said, almost casually. "But I don't know where to get the paint from, so probably not."

Ichimaru chuckled again. " I could show ya where t' get some." I stared back at him. Was this guy serious?

"Nah, can't be bothered to go get it. If you want to see my room black, then you can go get it for me." Now what's he going to say to that?

"Okie then. I'll be bringing you 'round the place tomorrow, unless you'd prefer otherwise. Be up by dawn. Bye bye and see ya tomorrow." Wait. What? Ah, never mind, who cares about that snake anyways. I still had an entire room to redecorate.

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**Next chapter: Coming up next next week.**


	6. Chapter 6: Amigo

**Hey guys, Chapter 6's up! I'm going for camp soon, so I won't be updating this anytime soon. Plus, I've recently taken to writing a Naruto Fanfic too (It's not yet published though) so updates will start coming in slower. Gomenasai. **

**Disclaimer: Ain't it obvious I don't own Bleach?**

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Chapter 6: New friend, old friend

_"If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong."_

At last, I had finished my bedroom redecorations. The walls were no longer white, but various shades of blue, the floor was pale lavender and littered with fluffy colorful cushions of red, gold and green, though the ceiling was still white. I didn't see Ichimaru that day after my promotion to Espada, even when he was supposed to be 'bringing me 'round the place' as he promised. I was up by dawn but he never appeared and I went about scavenging for items to beautify my room. I managed to piece together a warm green quilt, matching bed sheets and a couple of pillows of different colors. The bed frame was a lovely dark oaken color, and the desk was a pale sandy brown. All in all, the room was now a motley of colors, very much like an altogether different dimension, especially when the rest of the building was all plain white.

It had been three days since my promotion to Espada, and while I sat in my cozy room sewing together my fifth cushion (thank goodness I knew how to sew or else I'd never have been able to furnish my room so), I was wondering where that snake had disappeared off. Maybe he had a habit of making people wait for his return (after all, he had done something similar before.) I finished the cushion, dumped it on the floor and decided to go out of the room for a breather.

As I strolled past one of the many courtyards in Las Noche, I noticed Neliel and kitchenware-mascot-guy (I shall call him spoon for short) sparring. Or rather, I saw Spoon-san fighting all his worth and Neliel casually dodging here and there. Who knew what number Spoon-san was, but it was evident that he was miserably weak as compared to Neliel. I watched until the fight was over and was about to leave when Spoon-san's sword came flying past me, missing me by an inch.

I caught the sword and looked back. Spoon-san was glaring red-hot daggers at me (now what did I do wrong?) and hissed. It was during that brief eye contact that I decided that I disliked him immensely. Without warning, I lobed the sword at him which hit him hard on the head (he had seriously slow reaction!) and K.O. He fainted. Wow. He was as weak as a numeros, or maybe I miscalculated my own speed and strength…

"Not bad, new Espada," came Neliel's voice as she strolled towards me. "Neliel, Tercer Espada. Pleased to meet you."

I ginned at her, a sincere good-day smile. Now here was someone with a nice personality (and about time, too!) After all, Aizen was insincerely polite, Grimmjow is probably still pissed off, Barragan was an asshole, and Gin I still had yet to figure out what to make of him. I stuck out a hand.

"Sangre, Segunda Espada. Pleased to meet you too… Neru-chan," I replied, adding the last bit as a afterthought. Surprisingly, not only did she not mind my informal-ness, she chuckled.

"I think I like you… Sen-chan," she said. I blinked. Sen-chan? Now how did she arrive to that nickname? At least its better than 'San-chan' though, which would have been really weird.

"So… Are you herbivorous?" I could not help but ask. She may be an arrancar and all but she did look like Aries. And this was another way on testing how she'd react. One can tell a fair bit of someone's personality by how that person answers a question. Neru-chan seemed pretty taken aback by that question.

"No?" Her answer was posed like a question as she seemed to ponder about my sanity. "And do you delight in the fates of humans?"

I gave her a blank look. Did dragons delight in the fates of humans? Sure, I was sadistic, but I had nothing against humans. That was when it occurred to me that most arrancars would have given an immediate 'yes' to that question. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when I realized what she actually meant.

"Hell no!" I shouted. And honestly, I've yet to taste human flesh or soul. All though my short hollow life, I've only fed on other hollows. Neru-chan seemed somewhat pleased by my answer. Looks like she was the one testing personalities instead of me.

"You know what, I'd like to spar with you one day. I think we'd both enjoy the fight," she said. I heartily agreed. It would be nice to fight someone for the sake of sparring, instead of a life-and-death situation.

We parted ways and I continued my stroll, satisfied with myself for making one new friend (and so far, the only friend) in Las Noche. I passed by a science lab, but did not attempt entering: the fumes and noise coming from the entrance were suspicious (this included curses, profanities, and weird yellow smoke that smelled like sulfur.)

The scent of ink and crisp paper reached me even before I caught sight of the library. Now this was a place I would never hesitate to enter (unless Aizen was inside). I could hardly believe that a library actually existed in Las Noche, and it was by far one of the more colorful places I've been to around here. Though the shelves, seats, tables and walls were mostly white, grey or black, the books were a kaleidoscope of colors. I promptly made myself comfortable and began 'devouring' book after book.

Upon exiting the library a couple of hours later, I had in my arms, at least seven books piled up high. It wasn't a surprise when I ran straight into someone else some minutes later. And I was generally not the clumsy sort of person. The books flew into the air and the other person caught them all nicely as they fell, in a neat pile balanced on one palm, the other hand catching me by the shoulders lest I topple onto him.

"Watch where you're going, little girl," came the irritable voice of none other then Grimmjow. Oops. I hastily apologized for my clumsiness and reached for the books that he still balanced on one hand. However, he simply continued to glare at me as he held the books out of my reach, as if calling me 'little girl' wasn't bad enough.

"Return you the books so that you can go crash into someone else some other time?" He growled as me, then appeared to change his mind after some thought. "Hey, why not? For all we know, you might just collide into Nnoirita of maybe Uluquiorra, and that should provide quite some entertainment."

Right. Now who was Nnoirita? And who was he to mock me? He reminded me of his own foolish fraccions. After staring hard at him, I suddenly noticed the similarity between him and a certain Adjucha I used to know. No wonder he and his fraccions seemed familiar.

"Hey you _pantera sangrienta_ (bloody panther in Spanish), if you want to see them in a mess so much, why don't you just go beat them up yourself?" I growled back. He was just a Sexta, and most likely no match for Uluquiorra. He stared, suddenly seeming to freeze for a moment. What a lot of old acquaintances I was meeting these days.

"_Serpiente_?" Grimmjow enquired disbelievingly. Serpent was what I was called when I was an Adjucha, due to my skeletal dragon form. I gave him a smug grin. He should know from experience when we were Adjuchas that I was stronger than him, even if he has forgotten my place in the Espada. Then again, he was never really one for respect.

"So you became an arrancar too eh? And a Segunda no less. Yer know, I didn't recognize you when you had your mask half torn-off the other day," he said, his tone of voice changing audibly. Half torn-off? Oh, when he found me lying semi-conscious on the desert floor, under the orders of Aizen to find me. My dragon-skull-shaped mask had been broken when I was fighting off some super-strong hollow (I think it was a Vast Lorde) that day, resulting in me losing consciousness then. I wonder what happened to that hollow. After all, it had not killed me when I lost consciousness. Did I manage to defeat it in time?

"Well maybe you're just half-blind," I retorted. Grimmjow looked enraged at that.

"Not blind enough not to notice what you did to my fraccions, other than giving them enough nightmares to last them a week." Hmm… so my smile gave them nightmares eh? That's interesting… and useful.

"Well yeah, and that's all my fault. They gave me a really warm welcome party on my first day here you know." Overdose of sarcasm much? Grimmjow smirked. We both knew how awful his fraccions could sometimes be and friendly arguments were the norm in our conversations. Heck, our conversations itself has always been arguments of some sort. Nice to have another 'friend' around here anyhow.

He carried the books for me all the way back to my room (he was being gallant to the extent of mocking me) and we continued to argue and agree over random stuff such as the emo-ness of Uluquiorra and Aizen's 'holiness' et cetera. I could not wait to show him the insides of my personalized room.

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**Sorry if my chapters are all kinda short. I'll try my best to make them longer. Please Review! XD**


	7. Chapter 7: Black Snake

**Here's the next chpater! Sorry for taking so long to upload! My computer crashed. seriously. Thanks for the reviews anyways!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. =.=**

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Chapter 7: Black Snake

_"Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go."_

We entered my room, or rather; I entered my room and plopped onto the soft bed, legs dangling, while Grimmjow just stood at the doorway staring openmouthed. His reaction was thoroughly satisfying. He recovered shortly after, an approving smile on his face, looking quite pleased as he surveyed the room. Seems like he didn't really like Aizen much either (nor any authoritative figure for that matter.)

"You should've just painted everything black, but this rainbow would do just fine. Aizen will love this," Grimmjow said, now leaning casually against the doorframe. I shrugged, my mind having taken a trip elsewhere. The thought of everything black reminded me of what I said three days ago in front of Ichimaru. His disappearance bothered me, for some reason I could not comprehend. Maybe it was because I had not glimpsed even a shadow of Aizen either, these three days, which was surprising, seeing as he seemed to appear around quite a lot during my first day here.

"Hey Lil' Serpent, you still there? Don't just space out like that," growled Grimmjow, after I failed to respond for a while. I shook myself mentally and grinned at him.

"Well don't call me 'little', I'm only half a head shorter than you," I replied, a little irritably. He gave me a scornful look.

"How old are ya?" he asked. Annoyed, I promptly answered, "Thirteen going on fourteen," then groaned mentally at the smug look on his face.

"I've lost count of my real age, but if I were a human, and thank heavens I'm not, I'd be twenty three (A/N: I'm just guessing his supposed age in terms of his appearance)," he said. Right, so in human terms, he was an adult, and I was still a child. Damn. And on top of that, even though I was four ranks above him, he was still my senior as he had been arrancar earlier than me, as well as being a hollow for a longer period than I have. I had been human just two weeks ago, which I have begun to suspect is not the norm for arrancars. But I was not going to admit this to any of the other arrancars of course, lest they look down on me. I wonder why it had yet to occur to Grimmjow that I had become an Adjucha long after him—approximately a week ago, in fact—and yet managed to become an arrancar a few days after him. Of course this was all thanks to Aizen... and of course whatever he used to shinigamify us hollows, though it seemed like only precious few hollows successfully transform into arrancars. So far, there were approximately seven Espadas and nine numeros plus one Privaron Espada in Las Noche.

I dove into the collection of books I had borrowed when Grimmjow left the room in search of his fraccions, for it they can't seem to stay out of trouble for long without supervision. However, I soon heard a ruckus going on somewhere in the building that I failed to read more than three pages of a book. It wasn't so much of the thundering noise they were making, but the roaring reiatsu that shook the area like some hurricane. Sighing, I wondered which two people were having such a violent and inconsiderate fight at the moment. I bet many an arrancar were cowering on the floor at the moment under the tremendous pressure of the reiatsu; unable to continue with whatever they were doing before.

When I couldn't stand the fight any longer, I decided to go and check it out. The fight was once again held in one of the courtyards in the palace. Huge stone debris lay scattered all over the place, and in the middle of all that mess stood an arrancar that I did not recognize gripping the front of a certain shinigami's kimono and yelling insults about 'shinigamis in Hueco Mundo'. That certain shinigami was just hanging there feet almost off the ground, relaxed and smirking away, and even though the arrancar was still holing his own quite well, cold sweat was already forming on his face. I could almost visualize writhing white snakes encircling the arrancar, trapping him in their coils as the shinigami spoke a few casual words. The atmosphere was charged with tension that felt like it would explode into flames any moment and I wondered if the arrancar was being suicidal or what. The problem was, there were already so few arrancars, and one less would certainly make a whole lot of difference. Then again, I don't think Aizen would mind if the arrancar was killed for disrespecting his leader.

As the snake tightened its coils around its stubborn prey, the now-squirming arrancar randomly fired off a cero that missed me by an inch. If that continued, the whole place would be in shambles before the arrancar finally dies. I decided to save the poor arrancar from a slow and painful death and me from getting burned by a stray cero. Silent as an owl in flight, I had landed behind the tall arrancar, hidden from sight by his big bulk, and loped his head cleanly off his shoulders with my sword. Following that, I sliced him into half vertically down: the result was a giant cross splitting the arrancar's head and body, with blood splattering everywhere. I must say, I quite liked the effect of it; it was very artistic.

I looked up at Ichimaru Gin, aware that he probably just noticed my presence (I was clever enough to suppress my reiatsu to near zero at all times when not fighting.) I grinned, wiping away a blood smear on my cheek. He looked amused and a mite bit surprised (what's with these shinigami and amusement?)

"Welcome back, Ichimaru-sama," I greeted him, dipping my head in a mock bow. But I was genuinely pleased that he had finally returned. It was irritating, constantly wondering how a person could suddenly disappear into thin air. Of course he must have gone off to somewhere, however, the question was where though. Soul society? That was a likely possibility; after all, he was a shinigami.

"Y'know, I'd prefer it if y'd call me Captain," said Ichimaru, his white-snake words smoothly began to coil round my feet. Captain? Wasn't that just for shinigamis? Which arrancar would willingly call him by a shinigami term? Who did he think he was kidding?

"As you wish, Kitsune-taichou," I replied, smirking. That shall be my new nickname for him from then on. Take that, fox-spirit!

"My, aren't you insolent? That won't do." But even as he said that, I wasn't the least bit worried about getting killed. For one thing, we had gotten along (so far, and hopefully, in the future too) and he didn't seem to mind what I say, and another, his snake-like reiatsu was lazily swaying around me with seemingly no intention on suffocating me (yet). He proceeded to finish his sentence, "I'm afraid I'll hafta start calling ya 'Ryuu-kun' eh?"

Whaaaaaaat? Looks like I've earned a new nickname too… Thank goodness he chose not to use '-chan' instead, though. That would have been irritating. However, I didn't think he'd notice my tomboyish-ness so quickly. I wonder if it was that obvious.

"So where've you been? Had a nice holiday?" I asked, as usual adding sarcasm to the last few words. The fox-faced captain merely slid his hand into his haori and took out a large tin of something that had been hanging from his belt. He dangled it in front of me, his grin so wide like a Cheshire cat's, as if it explained everything. "Here's your black paint. Now you can paint whichever part of your room you want black."

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**Warning: the next chapter may take a long time as well. Gomen. I'm having lots of project deadlines (which may explain my comp crashing) plus I'm working on another anime fanfic too. But please please please review.**


	8. Chapter 8: Quest for Paint

**Here's the newest chapter! Sorry for taking so long. The next one should come in about a couple of weeks (lots of project work to finish), so I'm apologizing in advance as well. Well, hope you'll enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: IdonotownBleach,orelseOrihimewilldie!Muahahaha!**

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Chapter 8: The Quest for Paint

_"A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory"_

A week had passed and my bedroom ceiling was now pitch black, thanks to Kitsune-taichou's help and support. I began planning to create something more significant, something that would catch Aizen's attention. My bedroom colors weren't enough, and I wanted to show Aizen how irritating I found him. Of course, there was my fate to consider as well. Just because Kitsune-taichou was still humoring me, it did not mean that I would get out of future acts of rebellion alive. Maybe I should be more subtle, and sneakier… like a fox.

When I went around hunting for bright neon pink and orange paint (or any other horrible shade of pink) that day, guess whom did I meet? The emo dude that Mr. Panther had something against. Ulquiorra definitely looked like he needed some sunshine anyhow. What with his pale skin tone (I swear he sometimes seemed more skeletal than any of us), owl-like green eyes and turquoise streaks that ran down his cheeks on both sides of his face (which looked like tear stains.) He was the coldest and most depressing looking guy I've ever met, and he was just walking—more like loping—along an open corridor towards me. I had the urge to pinch and pull his cheeks like how I would to Aki-chan when I a) want to toy with her, b) want to irritate her, c) am annoyed with her, d) want to cheer her up. But even if I was a Segunda Espada, I don't want to find out how capable he is of killing me, so I decided that the best thing to do would be to head back in the direction I came from. I turned around abruptly and strode off away from him only to bump into two of Grimmjow's fraccions. Again. I briefly wondered why they seem to be everywhere I go, before kneeing one of them in the—ahem—and left him howling on the ground: he was in my way and I was in a hurry to get out of Ulquiorra's sight.

"Oh, do me a favor and tell your master that if he doesn't leash the lot of you soon, he'll probably end up with no more fraccions by the end of this week," I told the other stunned fraccion as I walked past him. I had a good mind to get some fraccions of my own too, to fulfill the role of dogs, be it to hunt down Grimm's fraccions or to simply guard me from them.

By the time I reached the eastern courtyard where I had found come scrap cloth the week before, I confirmed my suspicion that the emo wandering ghost was not wandering but stalking me. Wherever I went, he was in the far distance, but constantly remained within sight. What the hell was his problem? I was so going to report this to Grimmjow the next time I see him, and find out if haunting people were Ulquiorra's hobby.

Now one thing I hated most about Las Noche was probably the numerous times in which I meet other annoying Arrancars who get in my way, especially when I was trying to get away from someone else. So when I found myself face to face with a super tall Arrancar blocking my path, my patience went down the drain. All I wanted was neon paint and I meet four Arrancar who seem to like irritating me, all in half a day. The super tall dude was the same as the one I saw Neru-chan fighting the other day. He had short messy hair, small beady eyes, a smile that showed too much teeth (it looked more like a sneer) and a high upturned collar. His sword that came in the shape of a long black spear with a huge crescent shaped blade complemented his skinny figure and made him look like the kitchenware mascot I first thought he was.

"So, we meet again, little maggot." Spoon-san said (and there was I thinking that that there was no other voice I disliked more than Aizen's.) It sounded like a threat.

"Go away. I don't want to waste time with you," I replied irritably. Two other things I found out about Las Noche: One, a lot of Arrancars ignored my Espada status (the tattoo on my cheek has since changed from the number 17 to a large 2) and underestimated me. Either that or they were all super egoistic and all have the urge to bully me. Two, most of these Arrancars with inflated egos liked to call me 'little maggot' for some reason or another.

"Waste time? Big words coming from a weakling like you. I don't care if you're number two. You're just a little girl and shouldn't be here," he retorted. Then he stepped backward, as if preparing to launch an attack on me. "Last time you were lucky. This time, you're dead."

He lashed out. He was so predictable, it was boring. I dodged his blade. Another thing I found out about these Arrancars: they never seem to be aware of other dangerous people around that could pose a threat to them (e.g. Gin or Ulquiorra) when they're attacking me.

He swung that gigantic blade of his a second time and feeling fed up with him, I lashed my arm out. My arm, being protected by a skeletal sleeve and currently charged with reiatsu, caused the blade to shatter upon contact. It was rather pathetic. Leaping up and using the shaft of his now-bladeless spear as leverage, I kicked him hard on the forehead, soared over his head and landed behind him. Enraged, he swung the broken weapon around (third time already), and for the third time, failed to injure me. Considering that Neru-chan had defeated him so easily the last time, it shouldn't have been such a surprise that he was so weak. I sighed.

"Little worm!" Spoon-san hissed. It was in that moment that I noticed the number eight tattoo on his tongue. Ah, that explains… a lot. I gave him one last back kick, which struck his face and left it in a bloody mess. I heard him say something unintelligible (due to the nosebleed and the blood in his mouth) and ignored him. I was still aware that Ulquiorra was still standing some distance away watching us. I wanted to shake him off my heels as quickly as I could so that I could get on with my search for neon paint, so I left the pathetic bastard cursing on the ground and went on my way.

Shortly afterwards, after I had woven through several corridors and passageways, the emo 'ghost' seemed undeterred. I wondered what could possibly be so interesting about me that caught his attention (other than the ridiculous speed in which I rose up the Hollow ranks and became an Espada, which I'm pretty sure no one knows about, except maybe Aizen.) Creepy. Even creepier still was the fact that I had heard that he had no emotions. None at all. So what could he possibly want from me? I nearly freaked out when I realized that I had walked into an empty corridor with a dead end. What the heck.

Just as I was anxiously wondering when he was going to appear round the corner (and hoping he wouldn't), I saw a crack in the wall, which was really weird. Upon closer inspection, I found a door which would have been totally invisible if not for its partially-open door (which is unsurprising as everything around here is painted white anyways. Plus it had no doorknob or anything.) Praying hard that it wouldn't creak, I edged the door open slightly wider (which was all it could do. Its hinges needed serious oiling), and slipped through it into the dark stuffy room beyond its threshold. As quietly as I could, I shut the door behind me.

The soft footsteps I had been awaiting came, paused, continued past the door, paused again, change direction, walk past the door again, and then faded into the distance. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. Finally! I've shaken him off my trail. Hopefully, I wouldn't have the misfortune to meet him again on my way out. Blinking, my eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness of the room and I realized that by chance or fate, I had stepped into an abandoned storeroom (which would explain the musty smell and layers of dust.)

There was a whole stack of old tin cans of white paint (which looked greyish) in one corner, and some rusty tools in another. There was even some white wallpaper rolled up leaning on the wall. However, what caught my eye were the tin cans hidden deep within the recesses of the room: they were not a thick congealing white, but had a gleaming sheen (probably due to my Arrancar shine-in-the-dark eyes.) However, due to the fact that I had only two arms, I could only bring—or rather, squeeze—two cans of paint out of the storeroom.

When I exited the dark storeroom, the light was blinding, and the whiteness did not help: more proof that I should really start repainting this place. When my eyes adjusted again, I took a look at the colors I had chosen (the room was too dark for me to identify them before, so I randomly picked two.) One of them was a bright sunny yellow; the other was grass green, not what I had I was looking for, but good enough for the time being. In any case, it gave me an excellent idea. Thankfully, I still had some sky blue paint left in my bedroom. I proceeded to carry the two cans of paint as I headed back to my room (which was really far away. Damn you, Ulquiorra, for chasing me all the way to the west wing) and tried my best to avoid meeting any other Espadas on my way. As I kicked open my bedroom door, I had decided to ask Aizen for some fraccions the next day: I could really do with an extra pair of hands to help me out with this task I was going to set out to do. I wonder how Kitsune-taichou would respond to my plan though. Well, I would soon find out.

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**That's all for now... Please review! All comments are greatly appreciated! XD**


	9. Chapter 9: Favours

**Here's the next chapter! I'm going on vacation soon... so don't expect an update any time soon! XD**

**Disclaimer: *refer to prev prev chapter* **

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Chapter 9: Favor

_"Hospitality: making your guests feel like they're at home, even if you wish they were."_

I set to work immediately, and it took me an entire day to re-paint the entire library. Fortunately, the library was usually empty and the only people—or rather, arrancars—I met in there that day were Grimmjow, who quarreled with me over his fraccion's complaints and did not notice me painting the walls, and Neru-chan, who came in looking very amused as she asked me about the reason for the state of Mr. Spoon's broken sword. I found out that his name was Nnoitra, and was the guy whom Grimmjow mentioned before. Neru-chan was more observant and I saw her staring at the walls but she left without a comment after our conversation ended. The only other person that entered the library that day was some pink haired bespectacled arrancar who smelled like the copper (II) sulfate solution I used to experiment with in Chemistry class (when I was human.) He came in, snatched a book from a shelf and rushed out again, and probably did not even notice my existence in his hurry. I wondered if he was the one working in the science lab that day when I was searching for the library.

When I was done with the library the next day, I quickly cleaned myself and went to find Aizen. I'd delayed asking him for fraccions for one day, realized I was going to need help when re-painting rooms as well, and could no longer wait a second longer. That bastard was nowhere to be seen and after an hour, I'd finished searching the entire east wing but saw no sign of him. So when I bumped into one of his second-in-commands, I was unsure if I was unlucky or fortunate. On one hand, he was sure to know where Aizen was, but on the other hand, he'd find out what I was up to. I suddenly wished that it were Tousen—Aizen's blind disciple whom I'd seen only once before—that I had met instead of a certain silver-head. As luck (or miserable fate) would have it, I found myself staring at Ichimaru Gin with—as he said later on—a suspiciously comical expression on my face.

"So, what'cha up to today, Ryuu-kun?" the captain asked me with his usual smirk on his fox face. I gave him my best poker face (which always worked. I was usually very good at changing expressions when I wanted to) and told him that I was looking for Aizen. He noticed my lack of honorifics when saying Aizen's name and regarded my abrupt change in expression even more suspiciously.

"Sōdesu ka?" I swear if he grinned any wider, his face would split into two. I did not reply to his question and simply continued giving him a blank expression, very much like the one Uluquiorra constantly had. He studied me for a few moments longer before turning around swiftly and told me to follow him. I tagged along, feeling a mite bit uncomfortable. We passed by Uluquiorra, which made me suddenly remember that I was supposed to ask Grimmjow about his character. Later then, if I remembered again. Mr. Emo gave me an odd look (which was surprising considering his usually expressionless face), but when I saw that he was coming from the direction of the library, my surprise was replaced with curiosity. I wondered what he thought about it. And when Kitsune-taichou noticed Uluquiorra's odd expression, he too, gave me a weird look. I ignored it.

We reached a room in the northern sector where I have never come before and upon entering, decided that it was more like a hall. It resembled something like a throne room, which it probably was, considering that Aizen was sitting at one end on a chair that looked like a throne. Deciding that now was not the time to be impudent, especially if I wanted him to let me have some fraccions, I bowed to him (90 degrees, mind you) and presented my request. At this, Ichimaru looked extremely amused and began to smirk in a curious I-think-I-know-what's-going-on-but-I-can't-be-sure way. Aizen regarded me silently as I shifted uncomfortably, because of Ichimaru's smirk, Aizen's long contemplating gaze, and what I had just done slightly more than an hour ago in the library.

"Well, I don't see why not. You may choose three fraccions, but let me or any of my subordinates know whom you've selected once you're done" Aizen answered finally. I kept my face in a polite expression as I thanked him and went out of hearing range before shouting 'Hallelujah' and did a celebratory cartwheel. I had forgotten that Kitsune-taichou was still with me until I heard him laughing at my antics. Deciding that he shouldn't be a threat to my plan (which should have been a bad idea, considering who he was, but by then, I no longer saw him as a dangerous shinigami captain,) I proceeded to find three arrancars to be my fraccions. With the help of the shinigami, I found three arrancars which seemed to be triplets, but I wasn't too sure. The boy was called Hikari, and the girls were Hinata and Harumi. All three were spunky and radiated mischief. Ichimaru wanted to follow the four of us when I was about to bring them to my room (to brief them on the plan), but I waved away with the excuse of informing Aizen about my choice.

Once in the 'safety' of my room, I gestured for them to make themselves comfortable. I could tell that they were surprised at the state of my room. As they settled down on my bed, the pillow-strewn floor and cushioned chair, I observed them. Hikari reminded me of a kid (baby goat), due to his oversized Capricorn-like mask that went on his head like Neru-chan's, his face was half covered with his black fringe and goat-skull, so only his mischievous smile was visible; Hinata reminded me of a young gazelle, with her long horned skull-mask and short dark hair, inverted bob style; Harumi reminded me of a deer, her skull-mask was that of an adult stag with sleek antlers, and had short layered hair with two long braids. From my conversation with them earlier, when I was still choosing my fraccions, I'd found out about their strengths and specialties.

"Alright then," I began, and proceeded to tell them my plan to repaint Las Noche bit by bit, and hopefully remain undetected by Aizen for as long as possible. Their evil grins conveyed more than satisfactory enthusiasm. Looks like my choices were good ones. "Hikari, you'll be our Scorpion, our spy, scout, ninja. Harumi, you'll be the Thorn, my guard and our warrior. Hinata, you'll be the Raven, courier, and in charge of anything that requires speed."

With that, my fraccions and I proceeded to the library, with Hikari right in front to check the coast. The mission may be trivial, but the game was dangerous in a humorous way. On one hand, it seemed hilarious that Aizen would not be happy with our little rebellious games; on the other hand, the thought of Aizen catching us and doing who-knows-what with us as punishment was terrifying. Our trip to the library was smooth, and I showed them my marvelous piece of art: the walls were now painted with a field, flowers, a sky, and a cheerful sun. The ceiling was filled with merry stars that marked out the constellations. When they finished ooh-ing and aah-ing, I brought them to the abandoned storeroom to get some paint and we planned our next destination.

We started off with the science lab (which was empty, for some reason or another) near the library, followed by some other weird rooms with strange instruments and machines in them. We also managed to cover two rooms in the eastern dorm block—Spoon-san's and Grimmjow's before supper.

"Wow! That was like, one of the most interesting activity I've engaged in since coming here!" Harumi exclaimed when we were done for the day. Things sure got done so much faster with an extra three pairs of hands to help out. We went our separate ways soon after (we all stayed in different dorm rooms) and I settled on my bed eating some cookies I had stolen from the kitchens on my way back to my room. I was feeling quite cheerful after all that running around turning bits and pieces of Las Noche into splashes of color. Especially after meddling with some of the stuff in Spoon-san's room i.e. stealing his broken sword (or scythe… whatever) and replacing it with a giant three-pronged fork-spear (like the one typically depicted in the hands of a devil) and discarding every single kitchen utensil he had for the fun of it. Thankfully, the idiot was too deep asleep to notice us messing around in his room (Hikari found a sleeping drug in the science lab we repainted and a couple of other weird chemical that he's still figuring out the use of.) I wonder how will he react when he wakes up and find his room painted the gayest of purple. Grimmjow was luckier, and besides, I had no grudge held against him and he'd probably appreciate the makeover anyways. Unlike Spoon-san, Grimm wasn't in his room when we checked it out. His room was now painted a classic smoky white, shades of twilight blue and raven black. The color scheme was inspired by his hair color.

The next few hours was spent having hot chocolate with marshmallows and thinking up designs and color schemes for the other rooms in Las Noche. The kitchen would, of course, be painted a pale cream with splashes of strawberry pink, chocolate brown, vanilla, mint green, tomato red, cheesy yellow etc, while Neru-chan's bedroom would be painted in green and golden tones. I wasn't sure if I dared to paint Mr. Emo's room yet so I left that one for later. I would have to find Grimmjow and discuss this with him some time soon. I was absently using a tiny fork to spear my marshmallows and eating them one by one (which proved really difficult—have you ever tried stabbing something that keeps floating and bobbing in a liquid before?) when someone knocked on my bedroom door. Before I could even get out of bed, the door opened by itself and a silver grinning head stuck in through the doorway.

"Konnichiwa, Ryuu-kun~" Ichimaru said cheerfully. Eh? This was a surprise. Then again, this guy seemed to like surprises (or rather, surprising me.) Which reminded me, what should his room be painted like? Provided I successfully manage to locate it in the first place… Personally, I felt that if the white color scheme of Las Noche suited anyone, it would be him, perhaps with a bit of silver added to it.

"Ne, Sangre, what'cha thinkin'?" the captain from beside me. Wait a minute, since when was he beside me? I spun around to find him fishing our marshmallows from my hot chocolate with complete ease and popping them into his mouth. Staring at him, jaw slightly slacked, I vaguely wondered if he did this sort of thing with other arrancars too. However, I couldn't imagine him doing this to anyone else actually. I frowned at him and his grin widened. Sometimes, I wonder how he could see when both his eyes were shut all the time.

"Well, I was just wondering what you were trying to do with my hot chocolate," I said, irritably. He looked amused, as always.

"I'm finishing it for you, seeing as it is getting cold and you seem to have no intention of doing so," he said amicably, wearing a too-innocent face. I sighed, remembering what my mother used to say about anger being bad for one's health. Then again, I was technically, already dead…

"Nevermind, what are you doing in my room anyways?" I asked.

"I've just visited the library." Oh, such a short and simple statement, yet a lot of meaning could be gathered from it. He visited the library=he saw the painting of a sunny meadow on the walls of the library. He continued, "and the science lab nearby, as well as Nnoirita's room when he came storming out of it."

"And? What had that got to do with _your_ little visit to _my_ room?" I replied, keeping my expression as neutral as possible, while making a mental note that Spoon-san's real name was Nnoirita. Ichimaru continued grinning.

"However, I have noticed that my room is still plain white and that won't do at all. When do I get the honor of having my room repainted by _Your Artistic Highness_?" Kitsune-taichou dipped his head in mock courtesy. Oh my.

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**Hope you liked it. Special thanks to all who reviewed. Feel free to continue reviewing and commenting on the chapters. **


	10. Chapter 10: Punishment or Freedom?

**Here's the next chapter. What do you think? Please review, kay? Cuz I'm starting to wonder if my OC's a little mary-sue-ish. If she is, please tell me. Do you like her so far? Kay, enough of that. **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Bleach, I wouldn't name it such a weird name... Now,ON WITH THE STORY! XD**

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Chapter 10: Punishment or Freedom?

_"A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip."_

In the end, I never got around repainting Ichimaru's room, being the procrastinator that I was. I would spar with Grimmjow and Neliel or read in the library or paint some other room and even chat with Foxface but somehow, I ended up constantly avoiding the topic, as I had yet to find the right design for his room, and I had a feeling that he wouldn't be too pleased if his room was just white and silver. I didn't even know why I cared about what color scheme would be best for his room: I wasn't a perfectionist. I didnt even know why i cared about him at all! Maybe it was because of the riddles we exchange or the teasing or the games we often play together (such as chess or black jack). Maybe it was because i began to see him as much of a friend as Grimm. The triplets and I finished Neru-chan's room, the kitchen, every single science lab, every room in the east wing followed by the triplet's own room (gold, silver and black color scheme.) It was no mean feat and by the time we reached the central conference hall, another four weeks had past and it was my sixth week in Las Noche. Kitsune-taichou would pop in to see our progress daily and looked more and more amused each time.

Thankfully, Aizen was rarely around these days and just last week he left for Soul Society. I sometimes wonder if his silver-haired subordinate ever told him about the changes we were making to his previously all white 'sanctuary'. Ichimaru wasn't the only one watching us though; there was Grimmjow who laughed each time he saw the repainted walls, Neru-chan who occasionally gave us some ideas and suggestions, Uluquiorra who just stood in one corner watching us silently, and the occasional numeros who would give us weird looks whenever they passed by. Of course, there were some unlucky arrancars who got dirtied with paint when they tried to attack us (e.g. some unhappy fraccions.)

The hall walls were left white, though we painted swirls and dashes of other colors on the white. For example, there was a dash of sky blue behind Grimmjow's seat, a swirl of emerald green and black behind Uluquiorra's and a splash of gold-green behind Neru-chan's seat et cetera. I was in the midst of painting gay purple flowers on the wall behind Spoon-san's seat when he came back. No. Not only did he come back, he just had to enter the hall that we were painting in with Fox-face in tow. Funnily, not once did I doubt Ichimaru's innocence in this matter though. The shinigami had his usual grin on his face, but the smile seemed dismal? Upon closer observation, one would have sensed the unhappiness behind the smile.

"Is it just me or does Ichimaru-san seem a bit out of sorts today?" whispered Hinata from beside me as we watched the two shinigami enter the hall. Wow. Even she noticed the difference. I wonder if Aizen noticed it.

"So, you've been repainting Las Noche for me I see," said Aizen, his voice echoed frighteningly around the hall. I stood stunned, in cold sweat. Shit. Shit. Shit. I was caught. Red-handed. "But I preferred the white it used to be, you know." And with that sentence, we all went into mental depression. My outward expression betrayed no emotion though, except for a face twitch. I waited for him to pronounce our punishment and it was all the worse now that I had dragged three poor numeros into this mess as well.

"Feeling rebellious lately?" Aizen continued, smoothly, his polite smile still on his face. Damn him. "Perhaps you could do with a little punishment…" Silence.

"What about spending some time in the human world? I think that should do. You are hence forth banished from Hueco Mundo until I call you back. Is that understood?" I merely stared at the shinigami. To any normal arrancar, spending long periods of time in the human world would be pure torture (just ask Grimmjow and he'd gag,) but to me, it was nothing. However, I wouldn't have thought that Aizen would be so merciful. I thought I was dead for sure (literally.)

"Since your fraccions were merely under your orders, they will be spared exile… but the three of them will be allocated cleaning duties until your master returns to Las Noche." Oh. That's not too bad… I think. I glanced at the trio and saw relief in their eyes. Okay, so it went alright… but by the time I return, Las Noche will likely be all white again… I actually quite liked the new colors I added to it.

I didn't have anything to bring with me, so Ichimaru escorted me to the barren plains of Hueco Mundo. In uncomfortable silence. Then a big gaping hole opened up and sucked me into it. The last thing I saw was the shinigami. Without a smile on his face. I chuckled. That was rare. And surprisingly sad. I mean, if the one person who seemed to smile all the time failed to smile, then… sigh. I can't believe I'm actually gonna miss this guy.

"_Bye bye_~" I called out as I went, imitating Ichimaru's trademark goodbye. "_Hasta la vista _(A/N: this means 'See you' in Spanish)."

Then I was falling. Further and further until I found myself in midair. Before I could react, I had landed in the middle of the road. My first instinct was to quickly get up and get onto the pavement even though cars probably wouldn't be able to harm me anymore.

I looked around. I was standing in KarakuraTown. Home. Not anymore… I sighed. While I was still in Hueco Mundo, it was easy to belief that I was very much still alive, but now, when I see people take no notice of me and even walk right through me (which was not comfortable at all), it was evident that I was dead. I began to wander around the town gloomily, wondering how to pass time around here while waiting for my banishment to be lifted.

"Chizuki?" called a timid voice. That name. I swear I've heard it before. Of course. The name was mine. My original name. The name I forgot. And that voice. I turned around and saw another ghost. She was a ten-year old girl called Mira and I used to chat with her when I was still alive. She was naturally shy, but became more open when she got used to me. Now, she looked downright frightened. Then I saw her staring at the hole in my chest at the base of my collarbone. Oh.

"Umm… Mira?" The girl looked up sharply, eyes wide opened. Then she whispered, "you're dead."

Yes, thank you very much for pointing that out. But I didn't say that aloud. "Uh… yes? So…?"

"I thought… " Ah. Then I realized my reiatsu level was really high and I had forgotten to suppress it further. I immediately did so.

"Better now?" The girl nodded. Hell. What was I supposed to tell her? That I was an arrancar? And that most of my 'species' would love to snack on her? Or that in the eyes of a ghost, I was a bad guy now? Urgh. Then I noticed her tugging at my sleeve so I followed her as she dragged me around, pace increasing.

"I didn't believe it at first…" said Mira as she broke into a run. "But now… you must follow me." And I did. She led me to a queer shop in some deserted place. No, the shop looked ordinary enough. It was the vibes it gave me that was weird.

"Your body is in there," said Mira pointing in the direction of the shop. Whaaat? She must have seen my expression and quickly explained.

"Umm… your body, I don't know why it's not rotting yet or anything, but the shop owner has kept it in there. I thought maybe, you might want it back. I mean, you're… a spirit now, but you seem kinda different. Kinda like, you're not dead enough. Urahara, the shop keeper, found it lying outside your apartment block. He doesn't really know what to make of it, but said something about gigai. I think that's a faux body for souls. And since the body's yours, I thought maybe you can umm…."

"Wait a minute. Who's this Urahara guy? And how—"

"He's shinigami." Two words and a full-stop. Okay. That explains… a lot. But what was a shinigami doing in the human world shop-keeping? Then again, I guess if shinigami could lead arrancars in Hueco Mundo, why not?

"Then if he's shinigami, why're you still here?"

"He was going to send me to soul society, but I told him to wait for another month and that I still had something to do here. I was going to go today if you hadn't arrive in time. I won't ask what happened. I guess it doesn't matter. I'll be going soul society once you get your body back. They've gone out for awhile, so the shop's empty now. Don't know when they'll be back though."

Oh. Wow. That was sweet of her. Leaving her waiting outside, I crept into the shop. Good. She was right, there was no one around. I searched the strange shop, went through lots of strange items (some of which seems to be shinigami stuff) before finally finding my body. It was really weird, seeing it just lying there amongst some other stuff I knew not the use of.

"Ah! Urahara-san. You're back." Oh shit. That voice was Mira's, probably warning me to hurry up. After all, I was stealing my body back. And I highly doubt that shinigami would welcome me in his shop. So I did the only sensible thing: I grabbed the body and ran for it.

Moving around as an arrancar was easy. Moving around without being spotted while lugging a human body was harder than I expected (imagine ordinary humans seeing a body flying across the air with no visible support whatsoever.) I made it back to my apartment block safely and ascended to the fifth floor where my apartment was. Unsurprisingly, there were a ton of stuff outside my door, sent by Akirai and Hanaha, my two best (human) friends. A note on the door demanded to know where the hell I've been to.

I dug through the pockets of my body's jeans and to my relief, the house keys were still there. I quickly opened the door and dumped everything (body, stuff, note and all) into the apartment before going in myself and closing the door. Then I stared at all the things littered on the floor. My apartment was a mess. The debris left behind by the hollows that came one month ago were still there. Plus, what was I gonna do with my body? I decided to try cleaning up the mess first.

One hour later, I had cleaned up the kitchen and living area. However, the kitchen would probably need major repairs and I didn't know if I could afford it. Besides, I was a ghost now. Thinking about all my problems, I forgot to look at where I was going and tripped over some of the stuff my friends had given me and fell onto my body (yes, I know that sounded weird.) When I got up, my body hurt all over. Wait. My body? I was now wearing a black shirt and jeans that were stained with dried blood. Eh? The doorbell rang. Dazed, I went to answer it.

An orange haired girl stood outside. Oh. A classmate of mine. She stared at the state of my clothes. "Ano… I didn't actually expect you to be home. Haven't seen you the entire holidays. What…?"

"Sorry Ino-chan, but my apartment's a mess right now, think you could wait outside for a few minutes while I tidy it up a bit? As for the clothes, they were dirtied long time ago. I was just wearing them so that I won't dirty my cleaner clothes while spring cleaning," I hastily explained (or lied, whatever.) I shut the door at her quizzical expression and quickly put the stuff that were lying on the floor away.

When I finally did invite her in, she stared at my kitchen. I told her I didn't know how it happened and that it had happened while I was away, plus nothing was robbed. I mean, I was I to explain to her some monsters came in and turned me into one of them? At least I was kinda normal now (definition of 'normal' needs to be checked on much? Perhaps.)

Inoue excepted my lie and followed me to my room where she wanted to discuss some homework before leaving. I almost collapsed on the floor out of …relief? Exhaustion? Confusion?...after she left. I dragged myself to bed after that. Hoping that when I woke up, things would start to make more sense. What a day it had been. Little did I know there won't be enough time to make sense of all of this the next day.

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**That's all for now. Is the plot moving to fast? Reviews are welcomed. Next chapter coming up in... two weeks maybe?**


	11. Chapter 11: Shinigami

**Gomenasai people, sorry for the late update. Well here's the next chapter. Keep your expectations low; I probably won't update again til two weeks later. Keep your reviews coming in, and thanks to those who have been reviewing. Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. Ja ne. On with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. *sob***

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Chapter 11: Shinigami

_"Things turn out best for the person who makes the best of the way things turn out."_

I woke up to bright light streaming in though my open window, then automatically glanced at the clock. It was eight o'clock. Then at the calendar. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. My holidays have ended. The day before was the last day of the hols. That meant school would start today, and I was going to be late. I muscles were still aching (for what reason, I wonder) but I still managed to shower, get dressed, pack my school bag and dash like mad to school. I was one minute late. Not like that mattered anyways. Then I remembered what had happened the day before. Two months of hollow activity followed by exile from Las Noche had all been forgotten in my usual human routine of getting to school on time. Well, it had seemed more like a two-year-long dream. And of course my muscles were aching, I hadn't used them in two months!

"Chizuki-kun!" cried Akirai when she saw me and attempted to tackle me in her usual hug. My time as an arrancar paid off as I dodged her easily. Poor girl. Hanaha just sat on her table laughing her head off. No. more like poor teacher. Sensei was standing in front of the class trying to get us to settle down and pay attention but failed miserably. It was really surprising how normal everything seemed after the two months I spent as a hollow. Seems like things were gonna be alright after all. I really had to thank Aizen for 'banishing' me to the human world, which reminds me of an unsmiley Ichimaru Gin. Ah. Depressing. Nevermind. I'll get to see him again when Aizen releases me from my banishment (assuming that he actually does, which I'm starting to doubt he will.) I hope so anyways.

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Time passed. I no longer clipped up my side fringe, but let it down, and continued keeping my hair long and tied in a side ponytail. The result was that my bangs would sometimes covered half my face and my friends said it made me look emo, which I was not and did not want to be, but could not be bothered to do anything about it. I found hollows still going after me, and though I never really figured out how to get out of my body, the hollows would do the job for me (i.e. knock me out of my body.) Of course, that would be their biggest mistake because I was and still am, an Espada after all. That made me wonder if I was now considered Privaron Espada or do I still retain my Segunda rank? The tattoo on my cheek was still a number 2 but that could mean anything. Much to my surprise however, each time I killed a hollow, there would be a flash of blue light and they'd disappear. I had only seen that once, when a shinigami killed a hollow. I was pretty sure that didn't apply to arrancars.

_Of course not. But you wield a shinigami sword, so the hollows you kill are saved and sent to soul society,_ whispered a voice. It was the same voice as the one I heard when Barragan first tried to kill me. I was now facing a Gillian, which could be taken care of easily, but the voice stopped me.

_You are not using your power properly. Swinging your sword around will get you nowhere if you battle a shinigami._ Eh? What did that mean? The Gillian was ignoring me for now, of which I'm grateful for as it's hard to concentrate on fighting when you're talking to someone else (or yourself, for that matter.)

_Seriously, I'm not you. We're not you. Just wanted to make that clear. And you don't have a clue who are we? What about who are you then? Okay, what kind of trick question is that? _Not only was I talking to myself, this other voice claims its not me and apparently there's more than one of… hell, I don't know what to think. Plus, I still had a Gillian to kill. Nevermind the voice then. I took out my sword and got ready to kill the hollow that was already wreaking havoc, but something else stopped me this time.

A memory? No, couldn't be. The sword. It was a shinigami blade, but I was a hollow, so how could that be possible. Unless the shinigamification Aizen preformed on me went too far? But that wasn't it. The sword. It was familiar. Too familiar, even for two months of usage. And that voice…

_That's right. We're the souls of the sword. Your sword. Shinigamification is a triggering factor, but not the main reason. All the Espadas have swords like yours, swords that look like shinigami swords. But yours is different. I'll ask you again. Who are you? Who am I?_ My sword. My shinigami sword. But only shinigami wield… unless… Ah. I got it. I smirked. The idea was interesting, and it may explain some of my not-so-hollow behavior (like never having eaten normal human souls before.) And being an arrancar, I should be disgusted by the idea… but I actually welcomed it. I raised my sword again and pointed it at the Gillian.

"Warau, Seifu-gin. (A/N: Warau is 'smile' or 'laugh' in Jap; Seifu means 'positive and negative/plus and minus; gin is 'silver')" I yelled, gleefully, aiming my sword at the Gillian. Blinding light surrounded me but after awhile, I could make out the dark shape of a Gillian in front of me. I decided to sonido towards the Gillian who was ignoring me and going away. However, as I sped towards the hollow, I briefly realized that my sonido had made none of its usual static sound and was actually silent. I swung my sword at the Gillian and sliced it in quarters. The light faded and I took in the changes. I was no longer wearing my arrancar outfit, but a more Japanese styled clothes: a black tunic, white undergarments with a pair of black pants, tabi socks, sandals and a white sash wound around my waist. It was similar to the normal shinigami shihakusho garb except that the clothes were generally not as 'billowy' but still comfortably loose. I had a pair of long sleek katanas in my hands, one was white and the other was black, both with white skeletal hilts that reminded me of hollows. Two swords, two different personalities, together they were Seifu-gin, separate they were Shiroifu and Kuroisei. I smirked. This was getting interesting. My sonido must have been replaced by the shinigami shunpo. I really had to thank Aizen for this.

**… And you were complaining that all shinigami seemed to find everything amusing**, said a voice, dryly. It was slightly different from the previous voice I heard.

_You're dense, aren't ya?_ Now that was the voice I was used to hearing. This voice must be Shiroifu's and the other must be Kuroisei's. This was weird. Suddenly, something huge flew past me, whistling through the air. It was a gigantic tail. I turned around to see another shinigami finishing off a hollow. Hmm. I quickly suppressed my reiatsu until it was the level of an ordinary human, then ducked behind a building, plan forming inside my head.

_I like that idea. Go for it._

**How troublesome… the two of you…**

_Sheesh, it ain't that bad… besides, she could stand a chance of learning how to use her shinigami powers properly._

**If you put it that way… however—hey! **I ignored their conversation and dashed forward, following the other shinigami who had finished his work and seemed to be about to leave. I ducked behind a nearer building.

**That was reckless you know! Besides, how long are you gonna keep leaving us like that**? Like what? Oh. I was still holding onto the two swords, albeit quite loosely, and it occurred to me that I could have dropped the both of them while concentrating on the other shinigami. I hastily apologized.

**Well, you could sheathe us. Just in case you didn't notice, your sheathe is on your back.** However, I noticed that I only had one sheath. Now how do you sheathe two swords into one sheath?

**You seal us back of course. Currently, we're in our Initial Release form.** Eh? If I seal the both of you into one sword, will I turn back into an arrancar?

_Of course not! Not unless you want to._ Oh. That was good news. I highly doubt Soul Society would be very accepting of an arrancar trying to sneak in, which was what I was trying to do. I sheathed Seifu-gin and turned my attention back to the other shinigami. The shinigami was now opening a—what? There was a giant floating gate/door in mid air and light was pouring out of it, even as the sun continued to set. A few black colored butterflies flitted through the doorway. Wow.

_No time to gape! He's going in~ _sang Shiroifu. She was right, the shinigami was now entering the doorway. Just as the doors were about to slide shut, I quickly shunpo-ed in behind the other shinigami, nearly colliding into him. As the unaware shinigami continued to walk forward, I stood there teetering on my toes until he was a safe distance ahead before collapsing forwards. Phew, that was close. I quickly followed the shinigami through the brightly lit passageway (A/N: this is just how I think it would look like. I've no idea what's actually inside the senkaimon.)

We exited the portal and as the doors behind me slide shut, I watched with wonder at the scene before me. We were in a—town? City?—and all the buildings were all in the olden Japanese traditional style. I followed the shinigami around, keeping close enough to follow him, yet far enough so that he wouldn't notice me. It was night here and shadowing him was easy enough. I was starting to get sleepy, and focused my energy in following the guy instead of paying attention to my surroundings. So when a hand grabbed my shoulder, I was so startled, I let out a shriek and my instincts kicked in. I mean, in a deserted place at night, someone grabs you from behind, so what do I do? Swing my fist of course. And hurt my hand as it collided into the hard chest of someone.

I found myself standing between two shinigami: the one I had been following and the guy who grabbed my shoulder. Unlike the first shinigami, whom I merely saw as 'a shinigami', this one caught my attention. He was tall, and huge, with dark spiked hair (with bells! Bells!), a scarred face with an eye-patch, a dangerous expression, and… someone on his back. That someone was so small that I didn't see her at first. It became apparent that that someone was also a shinigami (who looked really cute with pink hair.) I felt my face twitch as I sweat-dropped. This situation would have been hilarious if I wasn't on the verge of getting killed by shinigami for trespassing.

"Who are you and what are you doing here? Where are you from?" asked the shinigami whom I now labeled as scary, which was quite something, seeing as I was a Segunda Espada. His questions were 'good questions' though, and I pondered how to answer them. I had a feeling that the truth would not be appreciated at the moment, so I lied. Well, not entirely, but more like, told as much truth as I dared.

"Um… I… I'm from the human world? I don't know how I ended up with shinigami powers (which I seriously still didn't) and I was hoping to get some answers, so I followed um… this guy here?" I said, tentatively. Well, this so wasn't like me. But I was in the middle of soul society and had no doubt that even if I could take on this shinigami, thousands more would come after me. The scary shinigami stared—or maybe glared?—at me for awhile and the silence was broken by the cute shingami on his back.

"So you're a living human then? How did you discover your shinigami powers?"

"Er… there was a hollow whose tail whacked me out of my body… and… someone… my sword… talked to me? Then there was a flash of light… and yeah. I found myself holding a sword (well two swords actually, but I wasn't about to tell them yet until I did get some questions answered.) and wearing these clothes." The scary shinigami sighed.

"Well I suppose I should bring you to see the old fart. I'm Zaraki Kenpachi, captain of the 11th Division. Come with me." Go with him? First Aizen, now this guy. Shinigamis.

"And I'm Kusajishi Yachiru, lieutenant of the 11th Division. Please to meet you~!" the cute shinigami said. I liked her already.

"Hey, are ya coming or not? Or do I have to drag you along, little maggot?" Little maggot? He sounded like those irritating arrancars in Las Noche!

"I am not a maggot! Call me a dog, a cat, or even a good-for-nothing idiot, but do not call me a maggot!" I yelled. To hell with being cautious. This bloody shinigami! Scary or not, I'll regret it later, but for now…

I unsheathed my sword, leapt up and tried to hit him with the flat side of my blade. The shinigami merely caught the blade with his bare hand and smirked at me. Oh shit. Just how powerful was this guy? Sure, my reiatsu was still surpressed, and I had no intention of killing him, but this guy… stopped my blade way too easily. Were all captains this scary? I suddenly wondered about Aizen and Kitsune-taichou.

"Now what were you tryin' to do, eh? If you were tryin' to attack me, you should at least know that that's not the way to hold a sword," Zaraki-taichou said. I glared at him.

"I wasn't trying to kill you or anything. Just give you a bruise, though I now realize that's hardly possible." I replied, irritably. The guy just laughed outright, which I found kind of rude, but before I could say anything else, he grabbed me by the back of my shirt and began dragging me away while shouting instructions to the stunned shinigami whose presence I had forgotten about. I gave up and let him drag me along, it wasn't like I could do anything about it, though I did wish he'd stop chuckling away. After awhile, I got tired of listening to Kusajishi-san chattering to me from Zaraki's back too. However, it really was saying something when after all that, I still felt that being with these guys were way better than being alone in the same room as Aizen. Now that was one guy I really couldn't stand.

What a weird day and a turn of events. Then again, all of my days have been pretty weird ever since that night i became a hollow.

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**That's all for now... sorry to keep you guys waiting.**

**P.s. will be adding random quotes to the start of every chapter from now on, including previous chapters.**


	12. Chapter 12: Soul Society

Chapter 12: Entrance

_"To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time."_

I hate this. The reiatsus of shinigami all around me. Now i was used to Gin's but being in a room with Zaraki's, Kusajishi's and not to mention the captain commander's was horrible. Captain commander Yamamoto was the head of all soul society and was also probably the 'old fart' Zaraki was refering to earlier. As for my current situation, well i was now kneeling in front of Yamamoto (which, to my surprise, wasn't as bad as having to bow to Aizen) and watching him watch me while contemplating the story i fed them (everything true other than the parts that i had to add or omit to cover the fact that i was an arrancar-not to mention segunda espada.) Of course, i was good at lying (especially when it comes to twisting truths) but it was not unexpected that the captain commander was still suspicious of me. In the end, he offered me a chance to be tutored by various captains and lieutenants in shinigami art-slash-skill. That is if i managed to pass the shinigami entrance exam first. I have a feeling that all of this was also a test to check on the authenticness of my tale and my shinigami-ness (is that even a word?)

I recieved my instructions from th captain commander after my meeting with him, after he ordered me out of the room, after he had a lil chat in private- and out of my hearing-with Zaraki. Well i suppose i had better start remembering to give them the title they deserve if i were to become a proper shinigami. The only problem was, i wasnt sure i wanted to become a shinigami after all but i guess its too late now. What have i been thinking? Why, there are so many rules here! So many procedures and.. studying! I achieved the rank of espada in las noche by defeating Barragan. Here, i have to study and take a bloody test just to become an ordinary shinigami! As i was still considered human, and had to attend normal school, my shinigami training would only take place after school and that means i wont be able to join the shinigami academy for lessons, hence the private tutoring. I could only join the proper ranks of shinigami when i have completed the curriculum (six years! Six bloody years! By then i'd have graduated from high school!) And all those respectful terms. The only respect i gave in las noche was to those who really deserved them e.g Neru-chan and there was only one person there that i was forced to 'respect' and that was Aizen. Here, i had to show respect to every single shinigami i see. And i bet beating any shinigami senseless was not acceptable here in soul society either (unless you so happened to be Zaraki-i mean, Zaraki-taichou.) Enough ranting... This is getting depressing. My only consolation is that i may get to see Kitsune-taichou again. I wonder, if i were to bump into any of the three shinigami leaders of las noche, will they give me away? I mean, how do you think Aizen will react if the espada you exiled to the human world reappeared as a shinigami student. Oh and it just occured to me that when i meet foxface again, i'll be of a much lower-ranking than before. I wonder if he'll still notice me. Then again, why do i care? Ah i give up. To hell with everything. If i can become espada in las noche, i'm determined to at least reach third seat in someone's division by the time i start high school!

They sent me back to the human world at midnight. I found my body lying on the road just as i have left it (thankfully, no Urahara dude came to steal my body away this time.) Once i returned to my body, i managed to drag myself back home and crawled into bed without bothering to change my clothes. I succumbed to sleep soon after. I shall worry about the entrance exam the next day.

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"Chii-kun~! Play with me..." Akirai whines as she pinched my arm. "You've been like a zombie all day long! Come on, play with me!"

I stared at her irritably. So it wasnt her fault i got so little sleep the night before but the least she could do was leave me to sleep in peace during our lunch break. Sometimes she reminded me of a five-year-old instead of the teenager she was. Zombie? LOL. I was a 'living dead' alright. How I wish I were still one hundred percent human instead of part Arrancar and now, part Shinigami too. Then again, if I had remained human, I wouldn't have had all that fun in Hueco Mundo with Grimmjow, Neliel, Gin, my fraccions, the occasional random suicidal numeros that tried to attack me... et cetera. The list goes on...

"Go bother Hana-chan will ya? I wanna sleep." I whined back. Except that Hanaha always carried with her a metal lunch box that served both the purpose of storing her lunch and of clubbing the top of Akirai's head. Usually, i would have a book on my person at all times which could also serve the same purpose but i couldnt be bothered. I sighed. Tonight would probably end up another sleepless night.

Instinct and spirit-six-sense jerked my head up from the wooden table which i had sprawled upon. In the same second, a thick wooden board came crashing down in front of me-where my head would have been had i not gotten up in time. Startled, i glanced up at Akirai who had a triumphant expression on her face. I looked down at the black and white painted board she was holding upon which there were several wooden chess pieces scattered haphazardly.

"So. I bet that woke you up alright. Now you have to play English chess with me!" Aki-chan proclaimed joyfully. How troublesome... Hn. If she really wanna play chess...

"Loser does the homework!" i say as i started the game. Our only homework so far was maths which i could easily complete myself but being lazy... Ah well. We've been doing one another's (Hanaha included) homework ever since the start of junior high anyways, it wasnt like our grades were slipping or anything.

"Checkmate," I proclaimed triumphantly, as I placed my white knight beside my rook, blocking off her black king's last escape route.

Akirai groaned. She had beaten me at chess the last time we played and knew i'd probably try to get revenge this time round. Unfortunately for her, thanks to my fellow chess players in Las Noche i.e. Neliel, my fraccions and Gin, my skills in chess-as well as many other (not necessarily useful) skills, such as the best way to annoy Nnoitra-had gotten a lot better.

Of course i won the game. I swear i've grown a lot more competitive since my time as a hollow. I used to be more laid back like Starkk. I guess Grimmjow really isnt the best influence around. In any case, i no longer have to worry about today's homework. All i have to worry about is the entrance test. Awesome right? (note the sarcasm) After school, i went home, spent one hour taking a nap, before someone threatened to break down my door if i didnt answer it soon. No prize guessing who's pounding on my door at the moment. Its probably some huge crazy spiky haired shinigami with a fist thats harder than a hammer.

I opened the door to see Zaraki and Kusajishi-san standing there. The lieutenant's next words made me wanna bang my head on the door.

"Oh! So you do live here! Yay. We got the place right for once!" Kusajishi said to Zaraki. His face was expressionless. I couldnt believe they'd try to break into my apartment when they werent even sure of the identities of its occupants. Then again, i got a feeling they dont really care. Honestly, these people... I concluded that shinigami sure were an interesting lot. I didnt even see her fist when it came flying into my face.

"Mmph! Ow. Ow. What-oh." i was pretty sure i sounded like a retard then. But i had good reason to. I was no longer in my body-apparently she punched me out of it with a strange glove (and has a surprising amount of strength considering her size... But then again, she was a lieutenant) Thankfully, my spirit was in shinigami mode. Now if my arrancar self had been the default mode, i'd be in deep shit by now.

"Good. Now we're ready to go." Zaraki said. I added 'infruiating' to my list of adjectives to describe shinigami. I just got punched and he says good. 'Exasperating' would be another good word for them.

Once again, a door was opened in the air and we stepped through the doorway, a black butterfly flitting ahead of us. Once again, i was brought to see the captain commander Yamamoto. Once again, i had to wait while they have their little chat. I noticed that I have yet to include any adjective with positive implication to my list for shinigami. When they were finally done, I was sent away with Zaraki's little lieutenant to the shinigami academy. I think she's supposed to bring me there, but i trusted my gut feeling better and went the opposite direction to whichever way she pointed, and when we arrived at the academy, i was re-confirmed that her sense of direction was horribly accurate (does that even make sense?). I mean, how can they not be sure where I live even when they should be able to follow my reiatsu being the shinigami that they were.

Beyond the gate of the academy was the entrance exam that i was going to take. With Kusajishi-san perched on my shoulders (she was really light!), i slipped through the gates. I found that if i convinced myself that being an arrancar, i shouldnt care about whether i can become a shinigami, most of my inner panic would go away. Most. That was the key word. Most. But i was still determined to prove that i could and had the abilities to become a third seat shinigami at the very least. A ridiculously high aim for a human with shinigami abilities, but perfectly reasonable aim for an Espada. I mean, i already had a shinigami sword (i think the captain commander called it a zanpakuto or something) and i was wearing the shinigami uniform before initiation. That should count for something right?

Ah hell, I never did like exams right from the start. But hey, even without working hard, I still managed to get into the top-thirty ranking in school... Maybe I was just lucky, but luck always seemed be on my side (even though it abandons me sometimes) so...

Entrance exam, ready or not (in which the latter being more likely,) here i come.


	13. Chapter 13: Double Lessons

**here's the update! Dunno when the next chapter will be up though... Gomen. My thanks to all who reviewed or PMed me**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach**

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Chapter 13: Double schooling

_"The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list."_

They tested me for my reiatsu level, then they got me to do some basic stuff like form a ball of energy in my hands. I imagined throwing a cero at my examiners. That helped a lot. This manipulation of reiatsu got me thinking though. Other than hierro, cero, sonido and sword usage, i didnt have much variety in my reiatsu usage. Now i was pretty sure you could do a hell lot of other stuff using reiatsu and i was curious enough to first, try to envelope myself with an armour-like layer of energy to mimic how my hierro used to be, and second, try to bind a random examiner with reiatsu. I must have caught them by surprise because the examiner that i had bound suddenly toppled to the ground. Shit. I wasnt sure if this was such a good idea afterall. At least i found out that i could convert my arrancar abilities to a shinigami version and that the ball of energy i produced in my hand was the same colour as my cero-violet. In the end, i found out that what i had demonstrated in the private examination room had been expected. Apparently, the stuff they made me do were also harder than that of the usual exam, so as to really test me. I only hoped that my reiatsu didnt betray its arrancar origins. In any case, the most important thing was, i passed.

I recieved my academy uniform later on and was to change into it. I would only be allowed to wear back my black shinigami clothes when i graduate. My sword was also 'confiscated' by Zaraki, who was going to be in charge of my sword-fighting training. I'm not sure i like the academy uniform very much, but i guess its alright. The uniform consisted of a white and red tunic over a red undershirt, red hakama, white tabi socks and sandals. I couldnt wait to wear my shinigami clothes again. Of course i wouldnt mind if they allowed me to wear my arrancar clothes, but thats highly unlikely.

...

"Cheshaa-chan!" a child-like voice reproached. I blinked, coming out of my thoughts and hastily responding to my new nickname derived from her insistance of the similarities between a certain grinning cat from Alice of Wonderland and me, my smile and i.

"Hai, Yachiru-chan!" i say, while at the back of mind, i couldnt help but think i must sound like a stiff soldier coming to attention. At least i didnt salute. The pink-haired child lieutenant pouted and made this really cute annoyed expression before continuing with her lecture on kido in her usual cheerful and hyper self. She had allowed-insisted, even-me to call her by her name. I sighed. This was going to be a long night. And i had school tomorrow. The captain commander had arranged for me to attend lessons in soul society one hour after school ends everyday and allow me six hours of sleep every night. One hour to finish the day's essay, maths sums and whatnot? Six hours of sleep? Concentration camp, that's what this was. And my training instructors were a punk-looking lieutenant called Shuhei Hisagi, a white haired kid captain named Hitsugaya Toshiro, the hyper pink haired Kusajishi, her crazy fight-loving captain Zaraki Kenpachi and a stone-faced captain named Kuchiki Byakuya. At least Kuchiki-taichou didnt have tear-stain-like-streaks running down his cheeks like a certain espada i knew. I had yet to see that captain smile though.

My next lesson was swordplay with Zaraki. My first lesson with him in fact. I wasnt sure what to expect but it was definetly not having to fight with someone who reminded me more and more of Nnoitra with each minute. Both were supertall, both wore an eyepatch, both had this crazy smile, and most of all, both love to pick fights. I was suddenly thankful for all the sword practice i got from fighting arrancars. Nevermind that i was now a shinigami and was slightly weaker than when i was arrancar. If i managed to defeat Nnoitra, i should be able to do the same with this shinigami. That was when i noticed, slightly amusedly, that a hell lot of Espadas were all pretty egoistic, and i now include myself to that list which already consist of a) Ulquiorra who thinks of everyone below him as trash b) Grimmjow who thought himself to be better than the Espada two ranks above him c) Nnoitra who believes that all females were weaker than males despite the fact that there were two female Espadas of a higher rank than him. So when sense told me that this was a captain that i was fighting, someone of the same rank as Aizen and Gin, i ignored it.

Zaraki Kenpachi returned mw sword to me just before we began the fight. As i havnt been taught shikai yet, i wasnt expected to use it. We were just going to do some friendly sparring, so that Zaraki can check out my standard in swordplay. Hell, friendly sparring? Ha! As if. As soon as my sword was in my hands, he stepped back and swung his sword down on me. I barely had time to dodge the attack. Now lets see, in order to defeat this shinigami, i've gotta first have the abilities of my arrancar self and that means hierro, cero, segunda-ranked reiatsu and speed. Hierro was achieved by condensing the reiatsu over my shinigami skin, releasing my suppressed reiatsu was easy enough too and immediately my speed increased. However, i dont think i can create a replica of cero without arousing suspicion so i'd have to do without it. Now, for the fight...

Crazily enough, i began thanking Grimmjow for all the practice he gave me during our sparring sessions. I even began thanking that kitchenware bastard for foolishly trying to engage in a fight with me every so often. Both of them gave me the experience and reflexes I needed to hold my own against this crazy shinigami. When he swung at my legs, i did a backflip. When he tried to decapitate me, i crouched down and lunged beneath his sword with my own. I was fast, but he was fast too. I missed landing a blow on his chest by a mere centimetre. The next time he struck down with his sword, i briefly wondered if this guy wasnt trying to kill me after all. I mean, in which test of swordplay do you seriously try to behead your student? Okay, so i wasn't dead yet and defintely wont die anytime soon, but i was getting tired of dodging and countering his attacks.

_Then dont! The fact that you're fast enough to run away means that you're fast enough to start initiating the attacks, you baka!_ Ah. Shiroifu.

**Basically, just attack. Attack. And attack again. Then the roles will be reversed. Think like your opponent, just as you think like your prey when you hunt. If you want to beat a captain, you gotta think like one. Havnt you learnt that much from your fights with Grimm?** Kuroisei? Funny that in the end, my swords were giving me advice on swordplay instead of Zaraki. But their voices reminded me that having not been taught shikai yet only means that i wasnt expected to use it. It didnt mean i couldnt use it. Ha! Zaraki-taichou, you are so going down! (again with the arrancar-like egoism)

I stepped backwards, narrowly avoiding a slash at my stomach, and pointed my sword at Zaraki, my Cheshire-cat-smirk on my face. "Warau, Seifu-gin."

I can't really say how my sword splits into two, but when I did the initial release, the single silver sword glowed in a bright light and like some twisted mirror image, another glowing sword would materialize in my other hand, then the light would disappear to reveal one sword black and the other white. In any case, as soon as I performed shikai-or rather, revealed that I knew shikai-I swear that guy's maniacal smile got even larger, and made me really want to wipe it off his face.

I began striking at him, and found how easy, smooth and fluid were the wielding of my swords as compared to before (I wonder if it had anything to do with the shape and size of the swords) Delighted, I soon became immersed into the dancing of swords, the soft humming song of the blades, the soft tinkling of bells, the joyful laughter of the shinigami when our blades clash and later, the satisfaction when my swords bit flesh and the bittersweet scent of blood filled the air. Was the blood mine or his? Maybe both, but with all that adrenaline, the pain was dulled and all other senses were sharpened. I have never fought like this before. For a moment, i thought i really was gonna win, when it seems like my reiatsu roared over his, but then he took off his eyepatch and to my surprise and horror, his reiatsu exploded and soared to top mine. For a brief moment, I wondered about the state of the buildings surrounding us but didn't have time to give it much thought as the battle ensued with Zaraki now having the upper-hand. When the crazy guy explained about his eyepatch, the first thing I thought was not about how crazy the whole thing was, but about why he didn't take it off earlier. Well i knew why, but i was feeling resentful to the seemingly effortless way he waved aside my confidence in defeating him. In the end, i had no idea what i was really fighting for. It had started out as a fight to show my skills, then a fight to protect my pride as an Espada, to prove that I could defeat him, then a fight just for the pleasure of being able to cut him, fight for the sake of fighting, and now? All I knew was that I wasn't just gonna surrender anytime soon.

Some time later, I felt my entire body begin to ache when the adrenaline wasn't enough to hold back the pain and my stamina began to run itself out. I had never been in a fight this long before. I wondered if Zaraki was beginning to tire too, but doubted it. Then when I brought up my blade too slow too late to block a low slash by Zaraki, my vision clouded over and I fainted.

I woke up in a traditionally-styled room and found myself staring at the face of a young woman with thick black hair. Funny that when I saw her smile, I thought of all the different kinds of spirits that I'd met so far, one with a suspiciously polite smile (Aizen), another with a fox smile (Gin), and two with wide crazy smiles (Zaraki and Nnoitra), one more with a sneer/mocking smile/smirk (Grimmjow) Then there were those with no smiles at all (Ulquiorra).

"Hi." I say weakly. My body hurt like hell under soft bandages. The woman introduced herself as Unohana Retsu, captain of the fourth division. Then she proceeded to give me a description of my injuries, her verdict and... I tuned her out until she mentioned Zaraki, who had apparently brought me to her, then falling unconscious when she was about to check his injuries too. I was consoled by the thought that that monster of a shinigami was significantly injured by me too. I take back whatever I previously thought of shinigami. It seems like it wasn't just Aizen, Gin or Tousen. I have concluded that all shinigami are scary. Really scary.

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**That's all for now ^_^ Please review~!**


	14. Chapter 14: Lessons and more lessons

**So here's the next chpater! I think my chapters are getting a bit crappy... I dunno... So please review kay? So i can improve on them. Thanks anyways for those who reviewed ^_^ Hope you enjoy this chapter more than I did. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach... what kind of name/title is 'bleach' anyways?**

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Chapter 14: Lessons, lessons, lessons

_"The trouble with experience is that it usually teaches you something you really didn't want to know."_

"You're fast," he said, his face expressionless. After I succeed in making Ulquiorra smile, I'm gonna make an attempt at getting this guy to laugh.

"Yes...? This is shunpo," I replied, not quite understanding what he was implying. He was my Hoho sensei, and currently, he was testing me on flash steps.

"For a beginner, your shunpo is... Impressive," he explained (Coming from him, I'd say that's quite some praise.) "But what I meant was, you're fast in general. I've heard from your other lieutenant and captain instructors that you exceed their expectations in terms of your abilities."

Wow. More compliments. I almost couldn't believe my ears. My other instructors? My sword-fighting techniques were taught by Zaraki, theory on the various subjects (e.g. Kido) and soul burial by Yachiru, Kido was by both Kuchiki and Shuhei, Zanjutsu was taught by Hitsugaya, and Hollow-fighting/purification was by Shuhei again. Of course, there was also Hoho, my current lesson, which was taught by Kuchiki. So many shinigami terms and names to remember! And have I mentioned how complex some kido spells can be? They can consist of long strings of incantations just to produce one bloody spell. I still remember how simple being an Arrancar was; all you had to do was remember your own special attacks, the few different kinds of cero, your _ressureccion_ (which I have yet to figure out because I don't have an Arrancar sword yet-my sword has strangely always been a shinigami one, remember?) and some other stuff like _pesquisa_ which are all second nature. I admit these shinigami can be quite creative in terms of coming up with all sorts of ways to use reiryoku but the incantatations of each spell are way to troublesome.

"I'll be teaching you a special shunpo technique today," Kuchiki-taichou told me. "It is called _utsusemi_."

He demonstrated it for me. Utsusemi turned out to be a flash step designed to allow you to get out of harm's way so quickly that you leave an afterimage behind. To me, it was like creating illusions of yourself with speed, a trick of light. So after the lesson ended (there wasn't enough time for me to try it out myself yet) I was brought back to the human world by Zaraki, who insisted on a conversation with me about kendo, and we almost got lost. _Almost._

Coincidentally, I had Physics before Phys Ed that day, and I took the opportunity to harass Uri-sensei to tell me more about light, it's theory, speed, effects et cetera. We weren't taught this sort of stuff in class yet-it was ninth-grade and above kind of material, so studying in advance became my excuse... Except that my teacher didn't quite believe me as I was usually quite lazy in my studies. However he also knew I had an interest in many subjects-as long as it wasn't part of the curriculum-so he let it pass. That, and my ability to somehow end up in the top-thirty for every semester in junior high.

During Phys Ed, I got the chance to experiment with this theory that sensei explained to me about. Funny how I was now applying science to shinigami-art. The problem with practicing during Phys Ed was that a) there were many people which would lead to b) higher possibility of arousing suspicions and c) shunpo-ing when I'm in my physical body proved a he'll lot harder than in my spirit one... Of course this was to be expected. However, my mentality was that if I could shunpo when I'm human, then how much faster can I go when I'm shinigami? It was like that kind of training where you run with weights tied to your legs-so that when the weights are taken off, you can run even faster than before. And as long as I can release a tiny bit of reiatsu while in my human body, this was possible.

I was right in my assumption that someone would notice my increase in speed when we ran round the track during Phys Ed today. That someone was Akirai, one of my best friends, fellow artist (All three of us: Hana, Aki and I are self-taught art students) and also one of the fastest runners in our school.

"Chii-kun... It's not possible! It's just not possible! Except that I saw it with my own eyes..." exclaimed Aki-chan during lunch break. Hana-chan raised an eyebrow.

"What's not possible?"

"Chii has mastered the art of teleportation!"

"... I didn't teleport," I tried to tell her for the fifth time that day. "I ran. Just like everybody else. Just faster, that's all."

"Of course you didn't! As I said, it ain't possible! But I swear I saw you start running before me, then you disappeared, then you appeared running behind me! And you didn't even look like you were running! You looked like... I wonder, could you be wearing some shorter version of those seven-league boots of English legend?"

"... Aki, that's hardly possible either," said Hana-chan, as she sipped on a can of coke. I sighed. And Hanaha heard me sigh. She turned to stare at me.

"You know, I've noticed... You seem to have gotten... More athletic or something. The last time we got into a street-fight with that annoying gang of redheads, I remember you rendering five of them unconscious with a random pole you picked off the floor. Your previous record one month ago was only three dudes at a go," she commented. Whenever we were too bored, we'd sometimes do stupid and insane things (like blowing raspberries at gangsters) which often got us into trouble. I believe our reputation amongst the gangs in the various districts have gotten quite infamous. We aren't so foolish anymore, but our reputation stuck with us and the gangs sometimes still pick on us for revenge or something. Even after we kick their asses three times in a row. We were never trained in self-defence or anything, but we picked up some street-fighting techniques along the way and got better with experience. Until we met an orange-haired guy called Kurosaki Ichigo who introduced us to karate and a girl named Arisawa Tatsuki (and I later got to know Inoue Orihime through her), I can add sword-usage to that list of fighting techniques, except that I'd use whatever is lying around as a sword cuz I don't have one as a human (maybe I should make a wooden one for myself. I do have the materials necessary...)

"Honestly, stop daydreaming," said Hana. I blinked and stared at her. _What?_

"See?" she says, gesturing at my blank expression. "I bet you didn't hear a word I said. Nevermind..."

She trailed off when she saw me staring at something else. Actually, I was still listening. I always listen. Even when I appear not to. Sometimes I tune out certain stuff, but what goes into my ears stays in my head whether I ignore it or not. Except that I usually can't be bothered to recall what people have just said so I sometimes appear to be a bit absent-minded. And maybe that's the reason why I still know what's going on in class even when my focus is elsewhere. And right now, my focus has been captured by three people. _Shinigami._ One child with pink hair, one kid with white hair and one punk with a '69' tattooed on his face. Holy. Shit. What. The. Hell. Were. They. Doing. Here?

Yachiru-chan waved at me. They were all standing beside a tree in the schoolyard, three benches away from us. She was the only cheerful one. Hitsugaya-taichou was frowning to himself while Hisagi-fukutaichou had a neutral expression. I didn't know whether to wave back or go and hide in some corner.

"Chizuki, what are you staring at?" Hana-chan asked me curiously. Aki-chan was staring at the shinigami too, but I doubt she could see anything other than an empty sky, a tree, grass and a bench.

"Nothing. I just thought I saw... Must be my imagination," I told her. But it wasn't nothing, and I definitely saw (and still seeing) something and it wasn't (and isn't) my imagination. They were right there, invisible to everyone else, and their appearance must mean something. Two lieutenants and one captain standing in my school with one of them still waving at me (and all three of them were my shinigami instructors) couldn't possibly mean nothing. And I had a feeling that they were waiting for me and I was suppose to go join them. What should I do?

I continued to keep my face blank. The bell rang, signifying the end of our lunch break. I followed my friends back into the school building, then I quickly went up the sensei for our next class and told him an giant lie (which involved an urgent call and a need to leave school early because of some emergency and an accident befalling someone I know) before sweeping all my stationery and books into my school bag, then flash stepped out of class so that no one would see me. Lolz. And to think Aki-chan was accusing me of 'teleporting'.

I left the school, still using shunpo, reached my apartment, unlocked the door, threw my school bag in, then turned around to face the shinigami that had followed me. And get punched by Yachiru and her skull glove-which was slowly becoming a daily-routine. My human body fell to the floor and I pushed it into the apartment, then locked the door.

"You're fast," Hisagi-fukutaichou said. I swear I've heard that before... Just last night in fact.

"In terms of?" I asked, slightly annoyed and slightly pleased.

"Your shunpo. And your speed in learning. I heard from Zaraki that you can already do shikai?" Hitsugaya-taichou said. I have yet to be taught by this kid captain and Hisagi. All week I've been taught sword-fighting by Zaraki, followed by theory stuff by Yachiru, then Kido with Hisagi, and recently, Hoho by Kuchiki. I've only met Hitsugaya once, when he was first introduced to me as a Zanjutsu instructor, so I knew nothing about him other than he being the captain of the tenth division. Actually, I knew as much about Hisagi as I knew about Hitsugaya, even after being taught by him for two lessons. I don't even know who his captain was. Then again, I haven't really got much chance to chat with him so far.

"Yes...?" I answered the captain, then upon a more curious look from him, I was prompted to explain. "Uh, my sword... Talked to me and releasing them came to me intuitively."

Now all of them were giving me a strange look. Yachiru-chan spoke up,"Ne~ you said sword, then you said 'them'-"

"Show me," Hitsugaya-taichou said and tossed me my sword. I caught it with both hands, all the while thinking about the mistake I made when I was explaining how I discovered Shikai. I had accidentally referred to the sword as 'them', which would imply that there are two swords and not just one. But I guess they would have found this out sooner or later and it wasn't like it was something particularly secretive anyways. I unsheathed my sword and said the release command. As before, the sword began to shine and another sword appeared in my other hand. Except that this time, I noticed something I hadn't realized before because it wasn't obvious then: I had been holding on to the sheath of my sword when I released it, and the upon release, the sword replaced the sheath in my hand-and the sheath had disappeared and rematerialized on my back on its own accord.

"A sword with two souls," mused Hitsugaya, watching my 'performance'. "The opposite of Kyoraku-taichou's zanpakuto. Do you know how to use it?"

"If you mean the special abilities if my sword, then no. I haven't found out what my swords can do yet," I replied. That is, other than increase my strength and speed. The kid captain nodded. "I see. Hisagi-"

"Cheshaa-chan!" interrupted Yachiru. "We'll be going on a field trip today~"

"... Basically, the purpose of us coming here today is to teach you about soul burial and how to deal with Hollows," explained Shuhei. I gave them a blank look. Soul burial? Okaaay... Deal with Hollows? WTH.

"Come on, we haven't got much time. There's been a report on some hollow activity in the next town. That's where we'll be headed to," Hisagi said, then both he and Hitsugaya leapt off the building. At the same time, Yachiru hopped from Hisagi's shoulder to mine. I was actually surprised that Zaraki didn't come along with her.

"Let's go, Cheshaa-chan~" the little pink haired lieutenant said. So I leapt off the building too. Being a spirit has it's advantages, especially if you can control your reiryoku such that you can stand in the air or 'fly'. I quickly followed the two shinigami in front of me, wondering if we were going to walk to the next town where the hollows were, then when I saw them increasing their speed, I suddenly remembered about shunpo and couldn't believe how stupid I was. I was surprised when I easily caught up with them, matched pace with them, and almost overtook them. I was surprised. I thought captains (okay, so Shuhei was a lieutenant, but still...) should be super at this. Well actually, I just assumed that captains should be super at almost everything. Even if they were weaker in some aspects (take Zaraki for example; he doesn't have a bankai-not that he will ever need it since he's f-ing strong especially after he takes off his eyepatch) they should still be pretty proficient-at least more proficient than ordinary shinigami-at this sort of stuff. I know Kuchiki was really good at shunpo and that's how he became my 'tutor'.

"Can we go faster?" asked Yachiru-chan. Did she read my mind or something? The other two shinigamis looked at me. And it was in that one look that I noticed that we were traveling at the speed I used to shunpo out of school and back to my apartment. And they naturally assumed my flash steps then were at my maximum speed. I don't know if I should be amused or feel insulted. So I went for neutral, said nothing, kept my blank face on, and just increased my speed. The shinigamis followed suit. Then I considered if I should just show them what my maximum speed was, but I wouldn't be able to maintain that speed for very long, so I didn't. It's like running-you sprint and run faster when its a shorter distance and when it's a longer distance, well, slow and steady wins the race.

We reached Naruki City in about five minutes or less, and it didn't take us long to find the hollows. They were causing a hell lot of chaos in the city, so all we had to do was follow the smoke and screaming. There were five hollows: a spider-like one, a centipede-like one, a leech-like one (gross!) a four-limbed one (which does not look like any animal I know of) and a bull-like one.

"Eh? There are three more hollows! When we left soul society, we were told that there were only two," Yachiru-chan said as she stood on my shoulder, leaning forwards and trying to get a better view of the hollows. Well what difference does three more make, other than a slight bit more destruction? I've killed (and eaten, for that matter) plenty of Gillians and Adjuchas before, and not to mention defeating at least a dozen arrancars before. Of course, that was when I was a hollow myself, and then rising up the ranks to achieve the second seat in the Espada. But I'm sure that even as a shinigami, these ordinary hollows would be a piece of cake.

Then Hitsugaya said something which I didn't hear because at that moment, one of the hollows (the spider-ish one) gave a loud roar/howl/screech/wail that made it impossible to hear anything else. Then that particularly annoying hollow just had to spew out some white sticky webby stuff that I managed to dodge, and this was followed by the tarantula-hollow baring it's mandibles at us and tried to slash at me with one of its many bristly legs. So it got to share the same fate as any pest (i.e. Cockroaches, flies and ants-and you may notice I don't usually count spiders as pests; this is an exception) that crosses my path: elimination. It was artistic. It had to be. I love art. I killed it with one slash, but for the hell of it, cut it across with another slash so that it'd be dismembered into four by a lovely cross (which you may have noticed, is one if my favorite ways of killing a hollow artistically.)

"Yes, Hitsugaya-taichou? You were saying...?" I asked the kid captain politely amidst a spray of blood. I sheathed my sword (which wasn't stained with blood by the way-this is possible when you slice the hollow fast enough) and wished I had an umbrella to shield me from the blood which would stain my uniform. He just stared at me with a... Shocked? Blank? Disbelieving?... face.

"Umm... Hitsugaya-taichou...?" I repeated. The shinigami sitting on my shoulder (and so conveniently sheltered from the spray of blood by my head) giggled and shouted, "Shiro-chan!"

The captain blinked, but before he could say anything, Hisagi cut in, "Have you killed Hollows before?"

"Are special skills or techniques needed to kill a hollow? I thought all you need is a sword and you slice it half," I replied, not quite sure what they had expected when they brought me here to practice killing hollows. It occurred to me that I hadn't actually answered his question.

"Hisa-hisa didn't think you'd be able to finish off a hollow so quickly and instinctively," Yachiru-chan explained. She looked positively delighted. "But you almost defeated Ken-chan the day before yesterday, in your third spar with him. So I wasn't surprised. And you seem to have mastered Bya-kun's utsusemi!"

"What? I did?" Her last sentence stole my attention. I was taught it just last night and haven't really gotten the chance to practice it, so I didn't expect myself to be able to do it yet, let alone master it.

"Not exactly, but almost," Hitsugaya finally spoke up. "We originally wanted you to practice killing two hollows, so we were surprised to see five. But now it seems you may be capable if killing them all without our help."

"Come on Cheshaa-chan! Go! Go! Go!" yelled Yachiru gleefully, as she prompted me to carry on killing the rest of the hollows. I leapt into the air towards the four other hollows. To quarter all four of them was too troublesome, so I simply slashed repeatedly at each one of them with my twin swords (I had yet to reseal them after performing shikai for Hisagi and Hitsugaya to see.) This achieved the effect of a whirlwind of blades in which the hollows were chopped up like minced meat (have you ever seen a pro chef chop up his meat and vegetables before?) Hmm... This was the first time I tried this... Probably because I never tried to kill four hollows at one go before (eating them up when I was an Adjucha isn't counted.) Could this be considered as some special technique? I didn't know it was possible to use your swords as chopping knives-especially when they weren't even in the right shape for chopping food. But I guess this wasn't food I was chopping (once again, my time as a hollow is excluded.)

"Yay!" cried Yachiru, still perched on my shoulder. "That was so cool! How did you do it?"

"Yes, how did you do that?" Hisagi and Hitsugaya asked at the same time.

"Huh?" I said, a little blankly. "I just... Uh... It's done by a series of fast slashes, like um... Yachiru-chan..." The little lieutenant hopped from my shoulder to Hisagi's. Then I held both swords in my hands lightly, and demonstrated to them. It was really just one strike after another, one slice following another in a swift motion. It was a bit like a dance with swords actually, because I had to spin around when I slashed so as to strike at the hollows behind me. When I stopped my demo, I was surprised to see tiny shreds of green leaves fluttering to the ground. Yachiru-chan cheered. Hisagi and Hitsugaya both blinked, as if waking up from a daze.

"Impressive. All I saw were spinning streaks of black and white," admitted Hisagi. I stared at the black and white swords in my hands. "But I wonder if you can do the same with your swords unreleased."

I take it he meant that this technique had nothing to do with my shikai. I sealed my swords back into one sword, their normal mode. Then I tried to do that slicing thing again. It was slightly harder, because I only had one sword to swing around instead of two, but I managed it alright. This time, instead of just focusing on covering the area with my blade, I also focused on the blade itself. I noticed a pattern in the path of the blade: each swing was an arc, and with the characteristics of utsusemi, the afterimages left behind by the moving sword resembled-much to my amusement-eccentric twists that reminded me of fast orbiting electrons and electron shells in an atom. Then I saw a leaf fall, and in less than a second, it crossed paths with at least seven silver streaks that were caused by a single blade and was shredded to pieces. An atom. Lolz. If I were the nucleus, and my blade were to form the paths of many spinning electrons, then I'd be one really dangerous atom.

The shinigami watched my performance for awhile and it occurred that most of the captains and lieutenants should be able to do this, except that they probably never tried and probably won't need to use such unneccessarily complex moves to defeat any foe. So I asked Hitsugaya and he unsheathed his sword and stared at it for some time before shaking his head. He looked really cute then, just like a kid, but I don't think he'd appreciate me calling him cute, so I kept my mouth shut. But something else must have shown in my face because at that moment, Yachiru began to giggle.

They brought me back to soul society after that, since I had been 'excused from school' early, and Hisagi and Yachiru disappeared to who knows where while Hitsugaya stayed with me to teach me about zanjutsu. I didn't have much progress in that subject other than coming up with more 'artistic' swordplay which caused Hitsugaya to begin lecturing Zaraki when he came to take me for sword-fighting lessons. The more the kid captain complained about my annoying tendency to think up of more ways to kill artistically instead of focusing on how to use my shikai properly, the wider Zaraki's crazy smile got. By the time Hitsugaya dismissed me and allowed me to follow Zaraki to train, the captain of the eleventh division was laughing as mad as hatter.

However, the good side of this was that Zaraki seemed to like me even more (which may or may not be a good thing) and I was told that I need not be so formal with him anymore i.e. I could call him whatever I wanted and was not restricted to addressing him 'Zaraki-taichou'. The Arrancar in me rejoiced. So I began to address him as Kenpachi from then on. But I had to put up with even more sparring sessions with him due to the fact that I gave him too much delight in fighting me and I had no choice but to comply because he was a captain and one of my instructors and I was just a student. Not that I was complaining, since this gave me the opportunity to improve and I was still set on my goal to defeat him one day.

That evening, when Kuchiki took over, and my Hoho lessons began, he asked me to demonstrate my utsusemi. I had this feeling that either Hitsugaya or Hisagi or Yachiru or maybe all three, had told him that I had gotten quite good at it. I didn't expect my demonstration to include a captain trying to slash at me with his sword-even though this has happened before, on my first lesson with Kenpachi-and I was made to dodge all his attacks. Then I was made to demonstrate the swordplay I displayed this noon with the hollows, and this included Kuchiki attempting to strike at me with his sword while I was doing that. Since when did this lesson about shunpo become one about swordplay? In any case, I found out through this test that that spinning sword technique could deflect most of his attacks and that by using the effects of utsusemi, I could distract my opponent and make it hard for them to tell where the sword's real position is. And being the captain that he was, Kuchiki managed to nick a bit of my uniform causing a slight tear in the cloth. I awaited his verdict.

"You're fast," he said.

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**That's all for now. Will update as soon as I can (which will not be anytime soon) School has started again and I dunno when I can get enough free time to write some more. My apologies in advance **


	15. Chapter 15: Holidays!

**Sorry! I accidentally mixed this chapter up with my other fic's chapters earlier. This is the real chapter. Gomen.**

**Hope you like it.**

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Chapter 15: Return of the Holidays

The summer break started in mid-July and plans of going to the beach, going overseas for vacations, relaxing and playing in the sun were discussed on the last day of our term. Aki-chan suggested taking on an art project but I wasn't sure if I would have the time for it. After all, I was going to take up my usual summer part-time job at the local vet-cum-animal-home and I had a summer camp to think about too. I didn't give my friends much details about this summer camp (I felt guilty afterwards for keeping more and more secrets from them) of course... Especially since this summer camp of mine isn't located anywhere in Japan, or any part of the world for that matter. I was going to Soul Society for my shinigami training which obviously continued regardless of my school holidays in the human world. In fact, because of my school hols, I now had more time to visit Soul Society and my training lessons increased. Thankfully, there wasn't much homework to worry about and my part-time job was quite flexible (but the pay is high. Lucky me... Or rather lucky that I was so happened to have an affinity with animals) and that made it more convenient for me to rush off for some soul burial/hollow dealing whenever Soul Society (more specifically, my shinigami training instructors, Yachiru, Shuhei and sometimes Hitsugaya) calls for it.

It has been three months since I first began my shinigami training, two months since I killed those four hollows on my first hollow-dealing-lesson, and one month since I 'graduated' from Kuchiki's Hoho class with a perfect utsusemi among other achievements. Now Kuchiki-taichou is teaching me Kido along with Hisagi-fukutaichou. Speaking of achievements and lessons, my progress with shikai and Hitsugaya's Zanjutsu lessons are practically non-existent, much to the dismay and frustration of the kid captain. And as much as I enjoyed annoying him and watching him get frustrated (it was highly amusing at times and his child-like appearance did not help in preventing him from looking like a cute spoiled brat when this happens) I was also starting to feel disappointed with my lack of progress. That, and the fact that I haven't heard from my swords for ages. I have forgotten when was the last time either Kuroisei or Shiroifu spoke to me. They must be ignoring me for a good reason... Don't tell me they think I'm not good enough for them yet. Sigh. In any case, I was quite happy when the school hols came around cuz it meant that I didn't have to juggle school and my shinigami training for at least a month. With the occasional extra free time I got in between my part-time job and shinigami training, I took the opportunity to explore Soul Society... Specifically Sereitei, as well as find out more about my instructors.

One day, about a week into the school hols, I found myself with an hour's worth of free time in between lessons. So with Yachiru perched on one shoulder, I began my stroll around Seireitei. I figured that sooner or later, I'd find myself in a situation where I'd need to go somewhere in Seireitei without the help of any of my instructors (Hitsugaya, Shuhei and Kuchiki that is. Kenpachi and Yachiru are no help at all) and I wouldn't want to keep getting lost. But when I decided to explore Seireitei, I had no fix plan or systematic way of how to cover the entire place. I just wandered into a street and randomly began walking in any one direction. My theory is that the best way to remember directions to anywhere is to first get lost, then find your way (I believe finding the way yourself is always better than having somebody lead you because you are nearly as observant when you are led along.) It works for me... But evidently, it doesn't work for Kenpachi nor Yachiru.

"What are the two of you doing here, wandering around... like-"

"Oh! Shiro-chan!" cried Yachiru gleefully. Do you know what it's like to have someone sitting on your shoulder and yelling away like a little kid? You'd think I'd have gotten used to it by now... If getting used to it means going deaf, then yea... I'm half-way there. I've gotta remember to try yelling cheerfully into Spoon-san's ear the next time I see him. Or maybe even into Grimm's ear. It should be fun.

"Hitsugaya-taichou," I greeted the white-haired kid captain politely. I swear I've been more polite in the last three months of shinigami training than I have for the past fourteen years of my life. "I've decided to explore Seireitei since I have approximately an hour of leisure time before my kido lessons with Kuchiki-taichou and Hisagi -fukutaichou starts."

He gives me a look. What look, I cannot say. Then he glances up at Yachiru who was perched on my shoulder and frowns. Grinning, I explained, "She's just there for the ride. I have no intention on getting her to lead the way to anywhere."

He nodded. "As long as you know that... Direction sense wise..."

Now I couldn't help but laugh. He didn't have to finish his sentence for me to guess his implications. Judging from Yachiru's pouting face, she understood him perfectly too. Have I ever mentioned that Yachiru reminds me of Akirai?

Just then, a strawberry-blonde-haired shinigami came running towards us. Her long wavy orange-tinted hair and ample bosom reminded me of a more mature and adult version of Inoue. Her shinigami robes were worn quite loosely, with a pink scarf tied around each of her shoulders, a necklace worn round her neck and a lieutenant badge worn on her uniform's sash. I didn't need to ask whose lieutenant was this. The answer was pretty obvious from the way she cheerfully greeted Hitsugaya and the way the kid captain gave her an irritated look.

"That's Ran-chan, Shiro-chan's lieutenant," Yachiru said, introducing me to Hitsugaya's lieutenant, who saw me and waved.

"Hello, I'm Matsumoto Rangiku. Pleased to meet you," the lieutenant said with a warm smile. "So you're 'Shiro's new student. I hear you're a fast learner, almost a prodigy... Except when it comes to Shiro's lessons."

I grinned a Cheshire-cat-grin. I like her already... And she reminds me a little of someone other than Inoue, someone with long wavy green hair and similarly big breasts: Neliel Tu Oderschvank, otherwise known to me as 'Neru-chan'.

"Well, my swords have made a point of ignoring me, so my progress in shikai-usage is therefore limited," I replied. "Say... Is it just me or am I one of the few people around who call your captain 'Hitsugaya-taichou?"

Both Yachiru and Matsumoto-fukutaichou laughed (well, giggled actually) and Hitsugaya had a disgruntled expression on his face. Once again, he looked like a cute spoiled brat. It was no wonder I hardly hear the shinigami around me greet him by his proper title, other than the more serious and formal ones (like Kuchiki) or those of low-rank (note that I said 'low-rank' and not 'lower rank'.) After Matsumoto invited me to have a drink with her, which I politely declined (I was underaged after all,) I went on my way with Yachiru still perched on my shoulder.

It just so happened that after wandering around for sometime, with Yachiru occasionally pointing out certain places as we passed them (like her division's offices for example,) I met another shinigami I know. It was Hisagi and he was speaking to someone I couldn't see from my point of view. As I approached them, Yachiru called out in her usual fashion, "Hisa-Hisa!"

Said lieutenant turned around and spotted us. He smiled a little.

"A little early for our Kido lesson, eh? Kuchiki-taichou isn't even present yet," he said. He said it so calmly, as if he didn't just make a joke. I suppose I was a little bit like that too. Then the lieutenant stepped to one side and gestured to the person beside him. I froze, suddenly hoping that my currently suppressed reiatsu betrayed no hint of my Arrancar one. 'At least he was blind, so he couldn't see who I was or what I looked like,' I consoled myself as I stared at the dark skinned shinigami before me.

"Yoruka-san, this is my captain, Tousen Kaname," Hisagi said to me. I quickly forced my face into a polite expression and bowed to the blind captain.

"Yoruka Chizuki, shinigami student. Honoured to meet you," I said as politely as I could. I couldn't tell if I said that too politely or too stiffly. All I was concerned about was if he could identify me by my voice. I was in no hurry of being known as an Arrancar around here. I may be part of Aizen's Army, but that didn't mean he and his subordinates wouldn't sell me out. You never know with shinigami... And I'm no longer sure if I'm still considered part of his Espadas or not. I would think the only shinigami I actually trust the most would be a certain sly fox but thinking about him makes my head hurts for some reason. And even so, I find myself unwillingly to let anyone (even Kitsune-taichou) know that the Arrancar Sangre and the human/shinigami-in-training Yoruka Chizuki are the same person.

"You're the human student tutored by various captains and lieutenants in Seireitei, aren't you?" Tousen said.

"Yes, I am. Does everyone in Seireitei know of me?" I asked carefully, unsure if I was still in danger if being identified as an Arrancar. It wasn't just the danger of being an Arramcar in the middle of over ten divisions of shinigami, or the danger of being found out by Aizen (he banished me from Hueco Mundo into the human world as punishment, so I wasn't sure if what I was currently doing is breaking any rule of his) but I wasn't sure if I could handle the humiliation of ending up as a shinigami-in-training of no rank when I had once been a Segunda Espada. Sure, I seem to have earned some respect from the captains and lieutenant with my advanced progress in shinigami arts but it was still different from being once considered as the second in rank of an army of Arrancars-hollows of the highest rank, having been shinigamified-that are undoubtedly as powerful as any lieutenant-or even captain-in Soul Society. Although right after I thought about that, I arrived at a question: why hasn't any Arrancar tried to rebel against Aizen yet? And why didn't I?

The more I thought about it, the more confused I became. It was always assumed that Aizen and his subordinates were more powerful than us, and that the Arrancars that go against them would be severely punished... Or annihilated. But weren't Arrancars supposed to be Hollows that have transcended the line dividing hollow and shinigami, becoming creatures that are ultimately more sublime. So shouldn't we be more powerful than Aizen? Or was that a lie? Or maybe, since he was the one who created us, so he is more powerful than ordinary shinigami (I know he's a captain, but still...) But I should think that if all of us Arrancars were to team up, we could possibly beat him. Wait, who am I kidding. I bet half the Arrancars in Hueco Mundo adore him. Che.

"Only the captains and lieutenants. Word gets around when a teenage human shinigami arrives in our midst and learns three times as fast as the average soul," Tousen replied. I wonder if he's aware of my momentary flight to my own thoughts. Thank goodness shinigami can't read minds. Or else I'd be quite dead by now.

"Oh. I see," I said aloud. "Umm... Thanks but I umm..."

"We'll be on our way. Mata ne~!" Yachiru said merrily, saving me the trouble of trying to formulate an appropriate way of taking my leave i.e. Escaping from Tousen. I bobbed my head in Tousen's direction even when I knew he couldn't see it, then left with Yachiru humming on my shoulder, feeling rather shaky after my encounter with Tousen for some reason or other.

After strolling awhile, Yachiru announced that it should be time for my Kido lessons soon. And since I found myself in an unknown place (then again, almost every unexplored part of Seireitei is unknown to me) I began to shunpo as I knew I'd take some time to find the appointed place where I was supposed to meet Hisagi and Kuchiki. The quicker I was, the better. I had no intention of being late for class.

On the way, I shot past a cluster of buildings (the typical Soul Society type of course. I had yet to see a sky scraper around) and behind some of the buildings I could make out what looked like a garden and fruit trees. I slowed down to have a better look but Yachiru hurried me on. But even as I quickened my pace again, there was no doubt what I saw. They were persimmon trees all laden with fat orange fruits that looked like amber jewels.

Later that day, when I entered the Karakura's local vet/animal home for my part time job, I found myself being greeted by a silver fox kit with fur that gleamed white in the sun and golden amber eyes that suddenly made me think of those mouth-watering fruits I saw today in Seireitei.

"Ohayo~ Chizuki-kun," Fukuro called out as she came out of the animal clinic. The little building was an extension to a larger one which was the animal home. The young assistant vet was nineteen, with long caramel hair and storm grey eyes, and was currently wearing her usual white overcoat and medical gloves. She hurried out into the garden towards the little fox with a black collar in one hand. The kit, however, chose to dart away each time she stretched out her hands. The two of them proceeded to prance around in a game of tag as the fox proved to be as slippery as quicksilver.

"So who's our new patient?" I asked Fukuro, referring to the fox. She paused in her attempts at catching the elusive fox.

"A half-albino fox that we found soaking wet and cold in the ditches near the art center. We brought him back with us and gave him a check up but he seems to be perfectly well and healthy other than having caught a mild flu and his half-albino condition. We have yet to name the little rascal. Problem is, I'm losing patience over this patient who enjoys sneaking out when he should be staying quietly indoors until we've deemed him recovered from his cold," the assistant vet said irritably. Unsurprisingly, the fox reminded me of a certain shinigami whose smile I miss but have no idea if I want to see him or not.

I walked over to the fox who looked ready to bolt, and cautiously reached out a hand which he sniffed. Then he licked it and padded closer. I carefully picked up the kit and turn towards my vet trainee friend, a smirk on my face.

"Easy," I said as I held the fox with one arm and took the collar from Fukuro-san with the other hand. Then I slipped the collar over the kit's head as Fukuro watched on with a mix expression of resignation and irritation on her face.

"You know, with your affinity for animals, you should be the one apprenticing under Nii-san instead of me," Fukuro commented not for the first time. Fukuro's twin elder brothers were in charge of running the place. The first twin, Tako, was the animal home's manager, while the younger twin, Washi, was the vet. I grinned at her as I made my way into the clinic with the fox in my arms.

"I'm already working here part-time and that's good enough for me. Besides, you're the one who wants to be a vet like your brother. And I've only just turned fourteen last month," I replied. And I'm already training to be a shinigami, I thought to myself.

"That aside, Washi-nii is currently busy with the monkey. Little Saru (A/N: 'saru' is monkey in Jap) has been stealing bananas again," Fukuro said. "So I was left to deal with this kit by myself until you came along."

"Let's name him Fuyu or Fuyuu," I announced. "'Fuyu' could mean winter, with reference to his silver white fur, or 'Fuyuu' as in 'wealthy/rich', referring to his luck to have been saved by you guys, or 'Fuyuu' as in a type of persimmon, referring to his eye color."

Fukuro stared at me oddly. Then she shrugged her shoulders. "As you wish. But by naming him, you've gained more responsibility in looking after him."

"I don't mind claiming him as mine," I said after some thought. "In fact, I think I'd like to have him as my pet. I've always wanted a pet. And I'll pay for his vet stay and medical fees."

"He's yours," Fukuro promptly answered, a little too eagerly. I supposed he's been giving her too much trouble now. As I fed the kit some meat scraps, Fukuro went on to tell me all about caring for foxes.

"They're omnivorous and aren't fussy eaters, so feeding him shouldn't be a problem. Generally, red foxes eat meat from game animals to reptiles to fish and fruits from plums to persimmon to apples. This one's half-albino, so you'll need to be a little more careful. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to have any eye or skin problems like some albino animals do. So I guess he's alright."

I brought the kit home with me that evening, after Fukuro's brother, Washi, did a final health check on him. Maybe one day, I could show him to Kitsune-taichou. I'm sure they'll get along quite well. For now, this fox was just what I need and wanted.

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**That's all for now. Please review! **


	16. Chapter 16: Surprises

**Yay! The next chapter is up! I know i took a seriously long time... longer than the three weeks i promised... gomen... I'll try to update the next chapter earlier... but no promises there. My thanks to those who reviewed! ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or I would have named it something other than a detergent.**

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Chapter 16: Surprises

_ "Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak."_

"Kawaii desu~!" squealed Akirai when she came over one Saturday and saw Fuyu. Hanaha and Akirai had come to invite me for a trip to the beach. I was home then and in fact, I was about to go to work at my part time job when they caught me just in time. Fuyu, who had taken to perching on my shoulder like Yachiru greeted them both with a yip.

"I didn't know you had a fox," Hana-chan commented. I grinned a fox-like grin similar to the ones i always see on Kitsune-taichou's face.

"Well I didn't know foxes could climb and perch like a cat," commented Aki-chan as she scratched Fuyu behind his ears.

"His name's Fuyu and I got him earlier this week from the animal home I work at," I told them. "And he usually acts like a cross between a cat and a dog. Wait til you see his puppy-dog face."

"Puppy dog face? But how can a fox make a puppy face?" Hana-chan said, confused. At that moment, Fuyu chose to demonstrate the very thing that annoyed me to no end. His eyes went all big and sparkly and you could almost imagine flowers popping up in the background. The reason why I didn't like that face was because he has used it on several occasions to 'manipulate' strangers into giving him snacks. I was thankfully, immune to the otherwise heart-melting face that I never thought any animal other than the dog, the rodent (mice, hamsters, squirrels etc) and the human child (including Aki-chan who is fourteen this year but I'd still consider her a child) could make.

Hana-chan had this really weird look on her face when she saw a) Fuyu making a puppy dog face and b) Aki-chan making the same face back at him. I sighed.

"Alright, I gotta go to work now. You guys can come see Fuyu tomorrow. I'll be free in the morning. As for going to the beach, sorry but I can't make it," I said and made my way to the door.

"I don't understand how your holidays could be so busy. Other than your part time job, you should be quite free... But you're always nowhere to be found, going off to this mysterious summer camp of yours," Hana-chan said, a little irritably. I gave her an apologetic look.

"Gomenasai, but umm..."

"But she's busy training under us. We're relatives of hers and we think it's our responsibility to toughen her up a bit more and make sure she's well exposed to all sorts of stuff. We want an all-rounded girl to bear our family name you know," came a voice behind me. We all looked behind me and there stood two unknown people. One of them was a young man with... Interesting looks and the other was a young woman wearing glasses and her dark hair was tied in a bun. Both looked slightly awkward... As if their clothes didn't fit them or something. Then a third person appeared behind them and this was one I recognise. Kuchiki Byakuya, my Kido and Hoho instructor. So I automatically assumes the two other people were shinigami too. I had to try really hard not to laugh at this scene.

I guess there's always a first for everything, but to see Kuchiki wearing a shirt and tie with black pants and leather shoes was something else altogether. The other two shinigami were also wearing human clothes. The guy was wearing t-shirt and jeans while the young woman wore a neat and trim college attire: jacket, blouse, pleated skirt, heels and a clipboard in hand. This is getting really weird. What were they doing here posing as humans and where the hell did Kuchiki crap out that lie from?

"Oh, err... Akirai, Hanaha, meet my err... Relatives..." I said uncertainly. Now how was I to address Kuchiki? I can't possibly call him Captain in front of my friends, and I didn't even know who these other 'relatives' of mine were. Thankfully, they chose to save me the trouble and introduced themselves.

"Kuchiki Byakuya," Kuchiki-taichou said, a little stiffly.

"Ayasegawa Yumichika," the guy with weird hair said pleasantly.

"Ise Nanao," the young woman said. She sounded about as formal and stiff as Kuchiki. However, Hanaha and Akirai didn't seem to notice the slight oddness and awkwardness of my 'relatives'. Instead, they were preoccupied with two other interesting points.

"You mean you have living relatives? SINCE WHEN? Why didn't you tell us earlier?" yelled Aki-chan in disbelief. Funny that she chose to add the word 'living' in front of the word 'relatives'. Normally, this would sound insulting, as if implying that all who are related to me are dead. But in this case, it was just plain ironical, seeing as she wouldn't be able to see them if they weren't in gigais, since they were technically, 'ghosts'.

"Gosh! Your relatives are... Young! Is that your cousin or... ..." exclaimed Hana-chan, before trailing off, unsure of whether it'd be offensive if she called Kuchiki an 'uncle'. "And... They're gorgeous! Although I think Ise-san would look even nicer without her specs and if she let her hair down."

"What's that supposed to mean? Together, you both sound like you expected my relatives to be dead ugly," I said irritably. Well, I wasn't really feeling irritable-I was amused-but I thought irritation would suit this situation and you know I'm a good actor. I never really thought about it before, but Hana-chan made me notice... Kuchiki was kind of hot... Except that I had no interest in guys... And even if I were, I don't think I would go for Kuchiki. And then when I thought of all the other guys I've seen in my life, particularly the more recent ones, of which all are spirits, they were mostly good-looking. Let's see, Aizen... Fine. He's alright. But I still don't like his suspiciously-polite face. Starrk... Well he is attractive in his laid-back couldn't-care-less way. Barragan? Please. He looks like a great grandfather! Ulquiorra... I guess he's cute in an emo way. He should seriously smile sometime. Grimmjow... Yes he's hot... But I fancy him as best-friend/frenemy/brother material. Nnoitra? I want to punch his face inside out when I see him, so... No. Tousen... Neutral. He's neither here nor there in my opinion. His lieutenant, Hisagi, on the other hand, was definitely what Aki-chan would consider 'HOT'. As for Kenpachi, he's... Not my type. Kuchiki, I've mentioned before, is quite a looker, but I'm not interested either. Hitsugaya... He's cute as I always say. I think he'll be quite 'hot' if he'd grow a little taller. Now who have I missed? Ah. Ichimaru Gin. His smile. His fox-face. His playful nature. His silver-tongue. His way of saying 'bye bye'... Forget it. I don't want to think about him just yet.

"Actually, no. It's just that it's quite a surprise. That's all," said Hana-chan, breaking my train of thoughts. "Say, are you guys gonna train her to be a girl? Cuz Chizuki seems quite certain that she's a boy."

"? There's a difference between being a tomboy and being a boy, you know," I retorted. Ayasegawa looked amused.

"Well, I think we had better be going," Kuchiki said.

"Just a moment," I replied and took out my phone. "I need to send my employer a message to tell her I won't be in til later today."

"Then I guess we'll leave," Hana-chan said and dragged Akirai away. I sent Fukuro an SMS, then I waited for someone to punch me with a gokon tekko but Ise passed me a funny tube with a rabbit head on top. It looked like a candy tube for kids. I took it and popped it opened, feeling quite curious. There was a round ball in it.

"That's a soul candy, otherwise known as an artificial soul" Ayasegawa explained. "It helps separate a soul from a body upon consumption and inhibits the Gigai for shinigami when the Gigai is not in use."

I stared at it for awhile longer before swallowing the 'candy'. Immediately, I was 'jerked' out of my body and watched with horrified fascination as my body came to live on it's own and saluted in a very cheerful Aki-chan/Yachiru manner. And it seems like that's perfectly natural as the three shinigami began to walk through the Senkaimon that they had opened while I texted Fukuro. I followed them though I was reluctant to leave the way-too-cheerful artificial soul now residing in my body. Who knows what it may do and what other people may say upon seeing 'me' being so out-of-character. And what about Fuyu? How could I leave my precious pet with a such a doubtful character? Nevermind. Worse come to worse, maybe I could persuade Yamamoto-taichou to modify the memories of all my friends and beg him to let me move to soul society for good... But I don't think anything that requires such drastic measures could occur... Right?

"Ne~ Ayasegawa-san, what division are you in?" I asked as we exited the Senkaimon into soul society. He turned around with another amused expression. I think I once commented something about shinigamis and amused looks?

"I'm the fifth seat of the Eleventh Division," he replied. "I've heard quite a lot about you from our captain. Oh, and you don't have to be so formal. Just call me-"

"Yun-yun!" came Yachiru's voice, and there she was, perched as usual upon Kenpachi's shoulder.

"What's with today's escorts?" asked Kenpachi when he saw Kuchiki, Ise and... Ayasegawa? Yumichika? Yun-yun?

"It was for the sake of appearances," Ise spoke up. "To support the lie we just fed her friends, it was necessary for us to bear some resemblance to Yoruka-san."

And then I started to wonder how they managed to turn up at exactly the right moment. I supposed they must have been expecting this sort of suspicion to arise in my two best friends sooner or later. I turned to Ise.

"Then which division do you belong to," I asked her. She didn't get to answer.

"Nana's lieutenant of the Eighth Division and vice-president of the Shinigami Women's Association," chirped Yachiru. Huh? They had a Shinigami Women's Association?

"Then who's president?" I asked. I should have known...

"Me! And you're gonna be our newest recruit once you graduate!" Yachiru proclaimed. I sweatdropped. Wth. They're already planning to recruit me now when I haven't even graduated?

"That'll be quite a long time later, Yachiru-chan," I said.

"Actually, I think you could graduate by next year. Early next year," said Kuchiki, to my surprise. Wow. Was he serious? But he's Kuchiki. So he must be serious. I can't believe it. I could graduate and become a proper shinigami in about seven to eight months time!

"I'll let you graduate from my class the moment you can beat me," Kenpachi said with a wide crazy grin on his face. Right. If Kenpachi is the first to greet me in Soul Society, it usually means that my first lesson will be with him. And that means more sparring. And more chances to prove myself and get nearer to my goal of kicking his ass. I may be a shinigami-in-training for four months now, but I was still an Arrancar at heart, even though the time spent as an Arrancar was half that of the tine spent as a shinigami student.

"I'm aiming to beat ya by the time my winter break starts," I told the violent shinigami captain as we made our way to our usual sparring grounds. He just laughed.

"As much as I like your creativity in coming up with a dozen ways to use a sword artistically, I think you'll fare better if you'd listen to that kid captain a bit more," Kenpachi said in reply.

"Yup~ You could improve and get closer to your goal of beating Ken-chan if you can use your shikai properly," Yachiru elaborated. "And give Ken-chan a better fight too!"

I guess they do have a point... But as I may have mentioned before, my swords were making a point of ignoring me. I wonder what I'd have to do to get them to stop the silent treatment. I withdrew my sword and got into my usual fighting stance opposite Kenpachi. As usual, Yachiru was the referee.

"Ready... Three... Two... One... Begin!" crowed the little pink-haired lieutenant. We started, as always, with ordinary swordplay. Then as the fight progressed, I released my sword to shikai and he removed his eyepatch. Then like always, two hours into the game of cat and mouse (with me being the unfortunate rodent) he'd drive me into a corner and checkmate. Game over. K.O.

Well, not really. At least, not yet. He's done it before, he'd probably do it again. And at the moment, I was running low on stamina, strategies and hiding places/places where I could take a break. And my two swords still aren't cooperating! Ever since they stopped talking to me, my fights with Kenpachi have become worse and worse. What used to be a close score of... let's say... Three-two has become something like Four-one or sometimes even Five-nil, which was demoralizing. This was one of the many reasons why I prefer being an Arrancar. But I shall treat this as a challenge that I must overcome! Give up? Over my dead body! No pun intended.

I gripped the handles of my swords tight, watching as Kenpachi advanced towards me with his sword high. Then in a moment of sharp silvery clarity, I realized what was wrong. What I've wrong about all these months. I was too strung up, too competitive, too much like the Eleventh-division members. And too much like a Hollow. Why, even when I was Arrancar, I was more laid-back than this. What was I doing? Who cares if I can't beat this monster of a shinigami? I bet if I can't beat him, neither can Grimm nor Nnoitra. Why was I trying so hard? What was I trying to prove? That Arrancars are better? That I am better?

_But you are better,_ a silky voice I haven't heard in a long time said. _Better than you think._

**And definitely better than that Kenpachi,** added another voice. Shiroifu! Kuroisei!

_I told you she'll get it in the end,_ said Shiroifu, almost smugly.

**She has passed your qualifications, but she hasn't passed mine,** Kuroisei replied. Pass their qualifications?

_Whatever. Chizuki,_ said Shiroifu. _This is my, and now your, shikai._

My reiatsu heightened even further than before. I was surprised by the sudden surge of energy. And I realized what I had missed before: when I defeated Nnoitra, when I defeated Grimm and Neru-chan, when I killed those Hollows with Seifu-gin, I had always been calm and relaxed. Even the time I was almost killed by Barragan and ended up defeating him, I had calmly-and pathetically-resigned to my fate. Oh this is awesome. My grin matched Kenpachi's.

"_Samui fuyu no shizuka na iki_ (A/N: It means 'Silent Breath of Cold Winter' in Jap)," I whispered into the wind. I flash stepped forward as my white blade became a white blur that shimmered in the air like an illusion, while the black blade dimmed and faded like a shadow. In the second Kenpachi's blade met mine, I felt my blades dissolve under his. For a moment, I thought I was going to get wounded by his descending blade, but when the blade froze in midair, I gave a small sigh of relief. Seifu-gin did not fail me after all.

He stood there staring at me with wide surprised eyes, his entire body frozen on the spot like a statue. That was the ability of Shiroifu's Winter Breath. It numbed all the senses of the mind and body, making the victim unable to move once struck. Like frostbite. Except that I had no intention of freezing Kenpachi to death. So I used reiatsu to sharpen the edge of my black sword before slicing the air with it. I paused when my sword was a centimeter from Kenpachi's neck, then lightly tapped him with the sword.

"Dead~," I told him merrily. "You lose."

Then I released my shikai. Almost immediately, Kenpachi started twitching and jerking like a puppet come to life. Then he began stretching himself and kneading some of his numb muscles, wincing as he did so. I wonder how much pins and needles do you feel after your entire body has been numbed?

"That was some move," Kenpachi told me when he had rubbed his entire body back to warmth and life. The irony of it-he was a shinigami. "So you finally made proper use of your shikai."

"Yea, and I think you should too," I replied, looking at his worn and battered sword. He didn't have a shikai because his sword was already in it's unreleased state. But does that mean he doesn't know his sword's name? Can he do bankai? All captains should. Doesn't that mean he's about as bad as me without a proper shikai technique?

"What?" Kenpachi asked, somewhat absentmindedly. I stared at him.

"Never mind," I told him, sheathing my sword. "I've won this fight. Does that mean I don't need to come for sword-fighting lessons anymore?"

I swear, his face fell so comically. I couldn't help but laugh. When he and Yachiru were about to protest, I cut in saying, "Alright alright, I'll give you one more fight. Tomorrow. Kay?"

He grudgingly took the offer of compromise. But honestly, I think he deserves to get one more fight. I don't know if I won today because I caught him by surprise or because I truly had the skill. Well, the next fight should determine it. Perhaps I could try and knock him unconscious then, cuz it'd be much more epic that way. Kenpachi lost today in quite an uneventful manner, which is quite sad, so he shall have another chance tomorrow. And I think he would like a proper match with me now that I could actually beat him.

After the match, I still had some time before my Kido lessons, and the time was effectively killed by Yachiru. She insisted that since I've already more or less 'graduated' from Kenpachi's class, I was one step nearer to official graduation. How did she link that to training me for 'work' as a member of the Shinigami's Woman Association, I do not know.

The 'work', she later explained, was, well, anything that she liked. Basically, as the president of the Association, she wanted all of us to serve her. That includes helping her with her pranks and doing all manner of stuff that pleases her. I was a bit... Amused when I found out, though I wasn't really keen on being her servant or something. It turned out that her pranks were quite fun though. I've always been one for pranks. I still remember the little prank I played on Nnoitra in Las Noche.

I later found out that the shinigami of the 11th Division were generally fun-loving. Well, their definition of fun, unsurprisingly, included fighting and violence, but I guess it was alright. I got to meet the third seat of the Division too. Madarame Ikkaku was... interesting. I'd say he reminded me a little of Kurosaki Ichigo. I found out there was no fourth seat either, because Yumichika preferred the number 5 to the number 4.

After this day, I have confirmed my earlier suspicion: Amusement is a part of being a Shinigami. Ever since becoming one, I find myself being amused by many things. I wonder why.

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**That's all for now. Spoiler: Next chapter will include Aizen! Muahahahaha! Please review, kay?**


	17. Chapter 17: Dreams & Nightmares

**Gomenasai! Sorry for taking so long to update... 3 months... I blame it on a) writer's block b) exams c) life as a sixteen-year-old in school...**

**Hope you like it anyhow... This is the longest chapter i've written yet I think...**

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Chapter 17: Dreams and Nightmares

Two lessons down, two more to go. Since I began shinigami training five months ago, I have 'graduated' from my Hoho class and Sword-fighting class. I no longer had any Hollow-dealing lessons (not after the first lesson which actually hardly counts as a lesson) but I was still called to kill Hollows as that was a regular Shinigami's duty. Sending souls to Soul Society was a piece of cake. So I was left with Kido lessons and Zanjutsu lessons. And that meant more time for myself to explore Seireitei, despite the start of my second term in school.

One day, I found myself with an hour to kill before Hitsugaya's lessons start. So I went off on my own and began wandering around Seireitei as usual. I remembered the grove I saw some weeks ago, the one with the amber jewels. I had to go find those persimmon trees again. And try those fruits of course.

Finding my way there wasn't very hard, though I almost got lost after taking the wrong turn. Some shinigami pointed the way for me. It was a little girl (of unknown age-after seeing Hitsugaya-taichou and Yachiru-fukutaichou, I have learnt not to judge them by how old they look. Or how cute they look for that matter) with black hair kept in a neat bun and a friendly nature. But she wore the lieutenant's badge, so I had to grudgingly show her some respect. Now while I'm quite fond of the white-haired kid captain, and I adore Yachiru, I found I didn't quite like this lieutenant here. Maybe she's too innocent, naive for my liking. I don't know. She had seemed quite easy-going, just like me, but perhaps she was too trusting too. She introduced herself as Hinamori Momo, lieutenant of the 5th Division. When I asked who her captain was, her answer shocked me.

"Aizen-Taichou," was her answer. Aizen. Aizen. No wonder I didn't like her. She reminded me of a pet! A little loyal puppy that would stick close to her master even if she were mistreated. And Aizen? Oh dear, I hope I don't have to meet him anytime soon. I really hate his face.

I hurried off, thanking her as I went, and found my way to the mini persimmon orchard. There was no one there and I wondered which division did the buildings around there belong to. Were the persimmon trees the property of anyone? Well, I guess there would be no harm in me stealing a few. Yes, stealing. I realized that I just might be stealing from a shinigami, and that was why I didn't have tagging along that day. I wasn't sure if she'd approve... Perhaps she might, but to on the safe side...

I crept up to the trees, sneaking around the buildings there like the thief I was, wondering what would happen if I got caught stealing fruit. When I reached the shade of one tree, I ducked into it, blending into the shadows. Well I was much better at this when I was wearing grey or black, not when I'm wearing white, so it didn't have the desired effect, but it'll have to do.

The tree I was under was medium-sized, a little larger than I expected, but still a little small. Thankfully, I was average too-neither tall nor small, neither heavy nor light. So I leapt onto one of the branches of the tree and settled down on a fork in the branches near the trunk. From there, I would be hard to spot, and the fruits were easily within reach.

I sat there eating persimmons for awhile, until my hands were sticky with juice (which I washed clean with the water from water bottle I had brought along with me) and my stomach was satisfied. The fruits were large, sweet and juicy and I think I must have finished a dozen before I stopped, hoping that whoever these trees belonged to wouldn't notice any missing fruits. Next time, I shall be more careful. Next time, I shall pick a few fruits from each tree so the difference wouldn't be so obvious. Next time, I thought as I drifted off to sleep under the shade of the persimmon tree.

I was surprised I didn't fall off the tree when I slept. I was still sitting quite snugly in the forked branches of the tree when I woke up. And it seems like no one seemed to have found me yet. Then I suddenly remembered that I had a Zanjutsu lesson with Hitsugaya that evening. Looking around me, the sky was already set in the deep blue colours of twilight. Oh crap.

Shunpo is such a wondrous thing. I reached our usual meeting place near his Division quarters within a minute, and that was where I saw him sitting there staring grumpily into space.

"Gomenasai, Hitsugaya-taichou!" I exclaimed when I had flash-stepped in front of him. I considered whether I should kowtow to him or something. I seriously hadn't intended to fall asleep in that persimmon tree, let alone come late for class and make a captain wait.

"... Never mind," Hitsugaya said, frowning slightly and sighing. "I guess since you've begun to improve significantly in my lessons, I cant complain much."

I stared at my feet and shifted them guiltily. I really wondered how long I had made him wait, and if he really wasn't mad at me or just repressing his irritation. So I decided to try harder in today's Zanjutsu lessons. The problem is, up to now, I still haven't figured out what Kuroisei's shikai is.

And I didn't manage to figure it out by the end of this lesson either. I wonder if I'm a great disappointment to Hitsugaya-taichou or something. Hmm...

Suddenly, I noticed that my feet had taken me to Matsumoto's quarters. I wandered around there for awhile, hoping to find her and just when I was about to leave, I felt her spiritual presence coming towards me... Along with two other spiritual pressures of which one of them felt suspiciously familiar...

"Oh! Hey Cheshaa-chan! (since when did she start using Yachiru's nickname for me?) I heard that you've finally learned your shikai!" she yelled cheerfully when she came into view and spotted me standing there. I didn't bother correcting her that I had two shikai abilities. In fact, I was more bothered by the two other shinigami walking beside her.

"Matsumoto-fukutaichou," I began, while staring at Hinamori-fukutaichou, the little girl I'd seen earlier today when I was looking for those persimmon trees. "When's Hitsugaya-taichou's birthday?"

"December 20th. Why? Are you planning to do something for his birthday?" Now Matsumoto sounded even more delighted than she already was. December 20th. That would probably be during my next school hols in winter. Three months from now. I had three months to master both of my shikais. Maybe throw a bankai in as well? Nah. That's just pushing my luck. Three months. Hmm...

"Do you think I could master bankai in less than three months?" I asked Matsumoto, still carefully keeping my eyes averted from that man standing beside Hinamori. Why is he here? Oh right. He's a shinigami. Damn him!

"Oh," Matsumoto said, as if she had just been enlightened. "One of the best presents a student could give to a teacher huh?"

She beamed at me and I suddenly felt like a kindergarten kid being praised by a teacher. "I'm not sure though... Bankai is really hard to learn. It's a captain-level technique that I've been trying to achieve for years now."

Years? If a lieutenant has yet to achieve bankai after years of training, what hope do I, a shinigami-in-training, have? This sucks. I haven't even discovered my ressureccion yet and that's supposed to be an Arrancar's second nature! And I was a Segunda! I wonder if Aizen knows... Wait. I shall not go down that line of thought. Especially if that shinigami bastard is currently standing right in front of me.

"And before I forget," Matsumoto turned a little so that her body was angled to face Aizen slightly. "Cheshaa-chan, this is Aizen Sousuke, Captain of the 5th Division and his lieutenant, Hinamori Momo. Aizen-taichou, Momo-chan, this is Yoruka Chizuki, the human shinigami student."

I bowed to Aizen reluctantly, before forcing myself to meet his eyes. Will he recognize me? Will he be able to tell that I'm the Arrancar he had sent on temporary-I hope-exile? Then I noticed something I hadn't noticed before (probably because I had been trying my best to ignore him earlier): he was wearing glasses! My poker face automatically came on as I mentally frowned on the inside. Since when did Aizen need specs? Perhaps it's fake. Yeah, that's probably it. He looked kinder with those glasses on. Wiser and more fatherly too. Which was disgusting, especially once one knows what's under that nice-guy face of his.

"Aizen-taichou," I said, hopefully not too stiffly. I wasn't used it. I almost said '-sama' at the end instead of '-taichou'. "It is an honor and pleasure to meet you."

Aizen merely smiled his usual polite smile. The smile seemed to hold more warmth in it than usual... I wondered if I was seeing things. In any case, I can't believe I'm saying this but, I think he looks better without his glasses.

"I'm pleased to meet you too, Chizuki," he said as he extended a hand which I took gingerly and we shook hands (shaking hands in a friendly manner with AIZEN?) I swear he put too much emphasis on the 'Chi' of my name... Maybe I'm just paranoid. (A/N: Chi means blood in Japanese. And Sangre is blood in Spanish. Hence... If you don't get it. Never mind.)

Then Aizen looked thoughtful for a moment and I thought: Oh Kami this can't be good. What he said next was, "I could train you in Bankai if you'd like."

Yep. Definitely not good. I painstakingly forced out a shy smiling face. Looks like even as a shinigami, I've no choice but to wear a mask all the time. Hopefully, this 'mask' of mine doesn't end up getting torn off like my Hollow one. The irony: a Hollow hiding behind the mask of a Shinigami.

"No, thanks," I found myself saying while bobbing my head in little apologetic bows. "I wouldn't want to bother any more Captains to train a lowly shinigami student like me."

Was my acting good or what? The thing was, I knew that acting could have fooled plenty of people-hollows, shinigamis and humans alike. But I had a feeling that Aizen didn't completely buy it. He was still smiling kindly (Kami! I think I'm going blind! His smile is dazzling so brightly. My eyes hurt) and said, "Oh it won't be a problem. In fact, I'm actually looking forward to teaching you. I heard that you're a fast learner and have a lot of potential."

Damn him. I desperate now. I really need an excuse not to get taught by him. Someone help me please?

"Wow, Cheshaa-chan. You get to have a Captain offering to train you in Bankai. And Aizen hasn't even taught Momo-chan yet. Lucky girl," Matsumoto said. Hinamori blushed.

"Oh it's just that there's no need to teach my lieutenant Bankai. I'm sure she'll be able to figure it out herself eventually. But Chizuki here is just a shinigami-in-training, albeit one with high goals. I think it should be interesting to see just how good she really is," Aizen explained. I couldn't help but wonder if he actually cared about his lieutenant. Wait, this was Aizen the Heartless we're talking about. Am I the only one around here who sees him as he truly is? I know Tousen probably thinks Aizen is awesome and Gin... The other shinigamis seem to be oblivious to Aizen's evil side. Hmm... Just how many shinigami are there who hide their true selves behind masks?

"I think I'd rather try it out myself first," I quickly said. Out with the truth. Or half-truth anyways. "It's not fair that I get this sort of 'special treatment'. And if I can't manage a Bankai by Hitsugaya's birthday then so be it. It was just a thought. Maybe I should just wait til I get a seat in a Division before even thinking about Bankai."

Aizen stared at me for the longest time and I felt really uncomfortable. Especially since he was wearing glasses and a smile that still appeared warm enough. I couldn't tell if he was unhappy with me turning down his offer, but I bet he is displeased. Then he merely nodded and smiled some more in that show of fake kindness.

"That's fine. Well, should you need any help, feel free to ask me," Aizen said. Che! If I needed help, the last person I'd ask is Aizen. No doubt I was acting quite suspicious now that I keep declining his offer, but seriously? I want to get away from this guy as soon as possible.

"Thank you, Aizen-taichou," I said politely. I could feel a smile on my face. I'm just hoping it's my grateful smile and not my sarcastically-polite or insincere-have-a-nice-day smile. I have a feeling that Aizen will be able to recognize any of those smiles immediately.

Just then, something huge and large barreled our way. Actually, it wasn't a something but a someone. Kenpachi stood in front of me (and thankfully blocking my view of Aizen) waving his sword with a crazy smile on his face. I think I know what's coming next.

"Chizuki!" he shouted triumphantly. "I've finally found you!"

Right. Because he probably got lost three times before coming here. And yep, Yachiru was perched up there on his shoulder as usual. The Lost Pair.

"Cheshaa-chan~!" she yelled gleefully. "We heard from Hisa-Hisa and Byakushi that your Kido lessons won't start in another hour."

Okay...? This can't be good... But it can't be worse than Aizen. In fact, I don't think there's anything could possibly be worse than Aizen. All four of us-Matsumoto, Hinamori, Aizen and I-turned to greet the 11th Division Captain and Lieutenant pair.

"Good evening," Kenpachi said to all of us, but I noticed that he was grinning at me. "Chizuki, let's fight."

I knew it! On any other occasions, I may have tried to postpone the fight to some other time, but this time, I readily agreed, much to Kenpachi's delight. To my surprise, two other shinigami came over and cheered too. Ikkaku and Yumichika. And when they began to drag me away with them, animatedly discussing the upcoming fight between Kenpachi and I, I offered little resistance. Anything to get away from Aizen.

"Good luck!" Matsumoto yelled just before we were out of sight. I grinned and gave her a thumbs-up, totally ignoring Aizen and Hinamori. Just then, we passed by a large puddle of water and I caught a glimpse of my own reflection in it.

Hmm... I did look somewhat different afterall. Back when I was an Arrancar, I had short black hair highlighted with gold and my side bangs were pinned up by some dragon-horn hair clip. I had a number tattooed on my face under a pair of red and blue eyes. Now, my hair was just plain black and ended around my waist. My long side bangs were let down too and covered part of my tattoo-less face. My eyes were no longer mismatched but of a strange violet color. My Arrancar jacket-shirt-pants-boots clothing combi had been stylishly black and white and more modern looking as compared to my current boring red and white academy uniform of tunic, hakama, tabi socks and sandals.

Now I was sure that Aizen couldn't possibly know that I was once an Arrancar named Sangre. He couldn't possibly know... But he sure as hell could suspect. My reiatsu, just like my appearance, was probably different from my Arrancar one, but no doubt at least a little similar. Now as long as he keeps this little suspicion of his a secret, then it should be alright. Funny, both times I met a Hueco Mundo shinigami-Tousen two months ago and now Aizen, Yachiru had been there to 'save' me from both awkward situations. I must remember to thank her later.

"Cheshaa-chan!" Yachiru called, breaking my flow of thoughts. I looked around and found myself in a wide open space with some grass and rocks that was even bigger than our usual sparring grounds. So it looks like Kenpachi has found an ideal place to spar. I bet Yamamoto couldn't be very please with us constantly destroying anything and everything around us whenever we had our sparring sessions.

"Hey Chizuki," Ikkaku said. "If you win this round, you'll get a really good reward. So ganbatte!"

"But the prize will only be revealed much later in the year or maybe even next year," Yumichika added. A prize? What could the prize possibly be? Especially one that I'll only be given months later? Nevermind, whatever the prize is, I'll just defeat Kenpachi and find out later.

As soon as the fight started, I performed my shikai. Now with two swords, I lunged towards Kenpachi, the left sword up close to block my his sword and swung my the other sword out. Kenpachi dodged my attack easily, bounding backwards to increase the distance between my sword and his throat. I swung again, this time towards his left. Kenpachi was good with his sword, but he was naturally right-handed and hence, his left side was weaker-weaker by not much, but weaker all the same. I managed to hit his left side with the flat of my sword-he had tried to dodge again, so I wasn't able to cut him.

Then I increased my speed and lifted the left sword to his face. With a light swift slash, I managed to cut his eyepatch loose. There was no point in fighting him and winning if he wasn't at his best. Plus, I didn't want to give him any satisfaction in dragging the fight out longer than necessary. A backflip brought me away from his flashing sword, then I lunged forward again. We exchanged a few more blows, feints and slashes before I decided to use Shiroifu's shikai ability.

"Samui fuyu no shizuka na iki," I whispered. My white blade shimmered into a blur of white, illusion-like, while the black blade faded into a shadow of a blade. After the first time I used my shikai, Kenpachi, being the awesome swordsman he is, has since then learnt how to avoid getting hit by it. The element of surprise gone, I had to rely a bit more on my sword skills again... Until Shiroifu decided to help me out again i.e. Reveal another technique that she had hidden from me at the start.

But right after Shiroifu said, "I'm going to teach you another trick," I found the world around me disappearing and my vision went black. I woke up in a strange place. The sky was a pale silver and gold, there was no sun, no moon, no stars, and there was markings on the ground, dividing the ground into gigantic squares that could easily fit a small house. Oh, and the squared ground was colored... Alternate black and white... Like a chessboard. In some squares, there would be huge black skeletal trees, some black colored grass, black colored fungi, black colored soil and black colored flowers or black colored boulders. In some other square, there would be large white rocks, white majestic trees, white soil, white grass, white flowers and even some white mushrooms. I was standing in a black square.

"This is your inner world," a familiar voice came from behind me. I turned around to see a girl standing in the next square, a white one. The girl had long pale blonde hair like Hanaha's, dark red eyes, a fair face-fair not pale, and looked like an elf (A/N: the Lord of the Rings kind, not the Harry Potter kind nor the Enid Blyton kind). She wore a white yukata with black designs-a black tree with bare branches that stretch across the top of the yukata like black brambles and black roots as wide spread as the branches. There was a black swallow kite that hung from the tree and resembled an abstract human figure hanging upside-down from the tree-the head of the swallow could be the head of the human, its wings the human's arms and its forked swallow tail the human's legs.

"What? Don't recognize me?" the girl asked and laughed. Of course I recognized her voice. She was Shiroifu, my white sword. So this is what my zanpakuto's spirit look like.

"Hey, don't forget me," another voice came from my left. I looked over to see another girl standing beside Shiroifu, in a black square. This girl had short black slightly-spiky hair, silvery blue eyes and a pixie's face. She wore a black kimono and hakama, and the cutting was much like a shinigami's uniform-my shinigami uniform in fact, and on it were white designs similar to Shiroifu's yukata's black designs. There was a white skeletal tree with wide spread roots that extended to the hakama and branches that stretched out to the sleeves, but instead of a swallow kite hanging from the tree, there was a white Latin cross planted at the foot of the tree above the roots, just below her obi.

"Kuroisei! Shiroifu. What-where-Inner world?" I managed out. This was confusing.

"Inner world. Which part of that do you not understand?" Kuroisei said irritably. I recalled all the times I heard her speak to me when she was just a sword. All the while I had been wondering if she was a tomboy and I was proven right here.

"The entire word. You can start with explaining the letter 'I', then 'n' then the second 'n', followed by the 'e' and the 'r'. Then-" I began saying, jokingly, when Shiroifu cut me off.

"We're not here to joke and chit chat. That can wait for later," she said, all seriousness. "Right now, I'm going to teach you how to use Samui Fuyu No Shizuka Na Iki properly."

"Okay? And...?" I ventured. She stared at me for a moment then she said, "Fight me."

Whaaaaat? I took a good look at her now. She was wearing a yukata. She had no weapon... That I could see. I glanced at myself. To my surprise, I was back in my Arrancar form: cropped white jacket with upturned collar, black inner lining, sleeves folded up and worn open, short fitting black shirt revealing my waist and navel under the jacket, white hakama, a black sash and black boots. I reached up to my head and felt the remains of my Hollow mask that consists of dragon skull fragments and a right horn up there. My Hollow hole was just below where my collarbones meet, half hidden by my black shirt. Too bad I couldn't see my face and check if the number 2 tattoo is still there.

I reached behind me and unsheathed the sword that was there. Except that there was no sheath to unsheathe it from. That was when I noticed that the sword was not the one I was used to seeing. It wasn't the large silver cleaver blade of Seifu-gin, but a white sword that resembled a gigantic kunai (fictional ninja type, though white instead of black), complete with hollow pommel (that reminded me of a Hollow hole), bandaged hilt and the absence of a cross-guard. I looked up from examining my new blade, just in time to see Shiroifu leaping through the air towards me, a katana in her hands flashing fast and white like the grin of a Cheshire Cat. Where the hell did that sword come from?

I managed to dodge her sword and up close, I realized that the sword resembled her, in the sense that, she was holding her own sword form. A quick glance showed me Kuroisei watching on the sidelines and twirling her black sword lazily. I didn't have time to think about what that means cuz Shiroifu came at me again, swifter than before.

I hesitated to swing my new sword at her, but after a few attacks by Shiroifu, who seemed to have no qualms about killing me, I swung the blade. I aimed everywhere, her side, her legs, even her neck, but each time, she'd block my attack, and all the while wearing a face of indifference. She wasn't like Nnoitra or Kenpachi with their fighting craze, but she did remind me of Neliel who fought with grace and casualness as if this was nothing to her. Then, quite abruptly, her eyes twinkled and a smile appeared on her face.

"Samui fuyu no shizuka na iki," she said. The white blade shimmered into a white blur, just like how it did when I used it, but with a flick of her wrist, the blade disappeared like a magic trick. With another flick of the wrist, something white appeared in front of my eyes, so near it almost touched my nose. Luckily, I leapt backwards in time to avoid the white... Blade? Mist? Light? I don't know what it was it had touched my nose quite gently before I managed to dodge the rest of it. And it's touch was cold like snow and completely numbing. For a moment, I had to touch my nose with my hand to make sure if was still there cuz I couldn't feel it there, couldn't wrinkle it in disgust if I wanted to, nor sniff the air with it.

I looked back at Shiroifu who was observing me with a slight smile, her hand still on the bladeless hilt of her sword. In place if the blade was shimmering air (like the air around a hot flame) but occasionally, I'd seem a gleam of white flashing where the blade should be before disappearing again. When Shiroifu saw that my attention was on her again, she lifted the hilt of her sword and came at me again.

This time, I tried to mimicked Kenpachi and avoided the shimmering air/blade. But the thing about a near invisible blade was that it was very hard to see and very hard to dodge. I knew from experience that one couldn't block the attack, only avoid it, but even that was proving quite difficult. No matter how far I was from the blameless hilt of her sword, the frosty mist-blade would still touch me.

Well, now that I think about it, why can't the attack be blocked? Because the blade wasn't solid anymore, right? So if it were like wind or mist or something, then it could extend quite far. I guess the concept was like that of a shadow: something of a certain mass (not that shadow has mass) that can become bigger but lighter (less concentration), smaller but darker (more concentration), shorter and thicker, and longer but thinner. If that was the case, how far can the sword stretch? I'm guessing that if one talks in terms of a single line molecules (or in this case, spirit particles) placed end to end, then, pretty far.

As an experiment, knowing that this form of attack doesn't actually cut flesh nor draw blood, I purposely leapt really far from Shiroifu but in the 'line of fire'. There was a thin flash of white light, like the beam of a penlight or laser and I felt something sharp and icy slice through my shoulder, making me drop my sword. The feeling went as quickly as it came, and left behind a cold numbing feel.

I stood quite still, waiting to see if Shiroifu was going to make another move. When she didn't, I reached out my left hand to rub my right shoulder. My shoulder felt nothing when I rubbed it, and it was quite clear that only that part of my shoulder had been affected. My right arm was working fine, if a little stiff, my fingers still felt warm, and the rest of my body wasn't frozen either. So I concluded that the thinner (and longer) the blade, the smaller the area is frozen. I remembered the time when I first used this technique on Kenpachi. I was standing quite close to him then, so my mist-blade must have been able to washed over his entire body and freeze all his nerves.

"You're clever," commented Shiroifu as she walked towards me. A flick of the hand and the normal white blade reappeared, attached to its hilt. Another flick and the entire sword, hilt and blade, disappeared, almost as if it had slipped into her hand or the sleeve of her yukata, both of which were quite possible, since she was the sword and the sword was she.

"Mmhmm..." I mumbled back, still trying to unfreeze my shoulder in vain. Shiroifu laughed and unfroze it for me. I picked up the sword I dropped and tried to figure out how to sheathe a sword with no sheath.

"That's your Hollow sword by the way," Kuroisei said as she joined us. "We'll teach you more about it another time. For now, just slide it onto your back. The bandages on the hilt will strap the sword to you by itself."

I did as she instructed and sure enough, two long bandages-one from over my right shoulder and the other from my left waist-crossed my front and knotted themselves. Hmm...

"Okay, do you remember what I did?" Shiroifu said, referring to the technique she used.

"You mean, flicking your wrist?" I asked, half-sarcastically. I mean, that's all I saw her do and that wasn't of any help at all. To my annoyance, she just grinned.

"Yes. That," she said, and in a blink, I suddenly found myself standing in front of Kenpachi again. What? Was the time I spent in my 'inner world' just a little more than a second? It had felt like half-an-hour.

Everything resumed as normal, with Kenpachi swinging his battered sword at me, and with me trying to attack him with mine. I vaguely noticed that a number of shinigami spectators had grown, from just two seated shinigami to an entire division, minus their captain. I knew this was the time to mimic what Shiroifu had shown me, but I wasn't sure if it would work. I mean, wrist flicking? That's just too simple. The good thing is, the flick of a wrist is generally unnoticeable so even if it didn't work, no one would know I tried anything in the first place.

I swung the white shimmering blade in a wide arc towards Kenpachi, and as he dodged it, I flicked my wrist, concentrating on making the blade invisible. It was like playing with a trick of light. Disappear. Disappear. Disap-Yes! It shimmered and flickered into near non-existence.

Now grinning with more confidence, I aimed my sword at Kenpachi. I experimented with different wrist movements and found that only quick deft movements triggered anything and movements in different direction had different effects. A quick flick of the wrist diagonally clockwise extended the mist-like blade. A slight flick upwards caused the blade to stop extending, and a slight twist caused the blade to lash in a different direction like a whip.

I struck Kenpachi on both shoulders in quick succession, like shooting bullets from a gun... Or perhaps shooting balas from an Arrancar's hand. He dropped his sword in shock and I took the opportunity to slash at him with my sword again, solidifying my blade as I did so. As with all our previous fights (the rematches we had after I graduated from his class) in which I was aware of my victory, I paused a millisecond before my blade touched his neck.

"Dead," I said proudly, and unfroze him as I sealed my blades and sheathed them. Strangely enough, unfreezing had come intuitively to me, just the thought of 'kick starting' his nerves back into working order and the numbness disappears in a wave of pins and needle.

I could hear the crowd of watching shinigami begin to cheer as Kenpachi grinned at me, a good sport as always. Then I found myself near drowning in the throng of 11th Division members yelling and clapping. I must say, though overwhelming, the feeling was nice, to know that there were so many people who approved of me. It was almost scary to see how they treated me like their own member, welcoming me so warmly after I beat their captain in a fight.

"As we promised," Ikkaku said. "You'll get your prize. Just wait and see."

A prize huh. I've already received a hell lot of rewards... The chance to become a shinigami, the honor of having lessons from captains, getting praise from Byakuya, learning cool techniques, satisfaction from defeating a captain... Come to that... It just occurred to me just how I, a shinigami-in-training, managed to defeat the same captain-class shinigami more than once, and the captain of the 11th Division, the Division of fighters no less. I must either be really powerful or really lucky. I think it's a little of both. Just saying. I'm not being egoistic here. Really.

...

After the fight, and some partying with the 11th Dividion minus the booze (I am underage! Why does nobody get that?) I went for my Kido lessons with Kuchiki and Hisagi. I will not elaborate on them cuz they just consist of a hell lot of incantations that I have to memorize. I'm still trying to find an efficient shortcut to many of them. I learnt that by saying the name of the spell alone, the same spell may be produced but it's efficiency is reduced. Hence, I'm trying to find a better shortcut than that.

But today was different from most of my other lessons, because we-Hisagi, Kuchiki and I-had a visitor. The visitor had short black hair with two long braids covered in white cloth, brown eyes-reminding me of a more serious and older version of Harumi (A/N: in case you guys have forgotten, Harumi is/was one of her fraccions in Las Noche) and introduced herself to me as Soifon, Captain of the 2nd Division and Commander of the Special Forces, Onmitsukido. Great right? Che. I don't know if having so many important people in Soul Society taking notice of me and my shinigami academic progress is good or bad.

Soifon was an expert in hakuda, and took me out of my Kido lessons for a bit to test out my skill at hand-to-hand combat. This captain was fast. Like, lightning fast. The most I could do was try and avoid getting hit by her attacks. As soon as I saw an opening and my brain registered that, 'oh hey! That's a good time and place to attack!' the opening would disappear before I can do a thing. She reminded me of... Something quick with a sting. Scorpion? Nah. Spider? Nah. Bee? Hmm... Maybe wasp or hornet... And how do you fight against such a deadly insect-especially one that's human sized with human intellect and five times my experience in hakuda? You don't.

Soifon made me think though. A lot of people-yes, they're spirits, but 'people' all the same-I've met have their own fighting style or 'animal kind'. Take Nnoitra, as much as a spoon he looked like, he was also like a mantis. Grimmjow was like some large cat-and I wasn't just talking about his ressureccion. Aizen reminded me of a sly weasel. Hitsugaya was like a white wolf pup. Byakuya was like a... Swallow. Hisagi was like a... Dog... Husky maybe. Yachiru was like a small kitten, Kenpachi was like a... Bear? Saber-toothed tiger? Neliel was of course, a ram. Ulquiorra... Hmm... I can only think of shadow for now... Or perhaps a melancholic demon.

So, what was I? What was my style? I'd like to develop one. I know my Hollow-form was like a dragon, but I don't think I'm very dragon-ish. Besides, there's so many types of dragon too. The wyvern, the dragon (English), the Chinese long, or Japanese ryu... Etc.

By the time Soifon had pinned me on my knees, arms painfully locked behind my back, I had decided that the sooner I learn my ressureccion the better. Then Soifon released me, letting me get blood circulation going in my wrists again, and said that my skills were "passable" and "satisfactory" but had "room for improvement". I really didn't know what to make of her so I got quite distracted throughout the rest of my Kido lessons.

On the bright side, I got to show the 'extended version' of Shiroifu's shikai to Hitsugaya when I met him later that night just before I went home.

What a day. It seems like I can never return back to my ordinary life-the boring one I had before I encountered those Hollows that fateful night, now can I? But i've made a lot of new friends and life is so much more interesting now. So I don't think I'll ever miss being a normal human. Heh.

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**That's all for now. Shall try my very best to update soon... like... in at least one month... at least the June hols are coming soon. XD **

**Please review!**


	18. Chapter 18: Who knew

**Okay... So here's the chapter many of you may have been waiting for. Sorry if it's not up to your standards... I hope you enjoy it**

******Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach**

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Chapter 18: Who Knew

_"Ignorance is like a delicate fruit; touch it, and the bloom is gone."_

Persimmon-eating became a daily habit of mine. Every afternoon, I'd go to the little persimmon orchard and have a snack, then I'd take a short nap before heading off to Hitsugaya's Division quarters for my Zanjutsu lessons. There was only one day in the second week of September that I didn't steal any persimmons to eat. It was only a few days after I first began my daily persimmon-eating spree when I had the strangest of feeling of guilt when I crept into the persimmon orchard. So I decided not to have any persimmons for that one day. After that, I didn't miss a day of eating persimmons.

It was October now. Two months away from Hitsugaya's birthday. Lucky me, I managed to find out Kuroisei's shikai one thursday afternoon. It was the first time I discovered new sword techniques in his lesson itself. The other two times had been during my fights with Kenpachi.

It started out like any other lesson, with me practicing the shikai I already knew and trying to master it. I recalled the first time I discovered my shikai when Shiroifu had said, "I told you she'll get it in the end." and when Kuroisei had replied, "She has passed your qualifications, but she hasn't passed mine." I had spent a lot of time wondering about what they had meant and finally figured it out.

First of all, they only started talking to me after weeks of silence when I was fighting with Kenpachi. During that particular fight I had finally stopped being so Hollow-like in terms of my aim to kick Kenpachi's ass. So I concluded that Shiroifu had decided that only when I was all calm and zen when fighting that she'd let me know her shikai. So the question was: what was Kuroisei's qualification/condition for me?

At first it seemed like a coincidence that Shiroifu's qualification was a zen state of mind and her shikai had been the numbing of the senses. Then when I was thinking back on how I fought when I was an Arrancar, I realized that when I was a Hollow, I had fought with the intent to harm. I'm not saying that I was a bloodthirsty demon or anything. it was just that whenever I fought (be it teaching pesky fraccions a lesson, putting disrespectful Arrancars in their places or sparring with friends), every blow I landed was meant to hurt. Meant to satisfy my mild sadism.

I recalled the time when I tried to behead Barragan, or the time I had wanted to make Nnoitra suffer, or the time I had given Grimmjow's fraccions hell. But whenever I fight with Kenpachi, my main aim was to defeat him. I never concentrated on actually cutting him or striking him. Those were just means to defeat him and I hadn't really tried very hard to draw blood.

So one fine Zanjutsu lesson, as I was going through certain stances and sword movements with Shiroifu's shikai which I now call 'Samui Iki' (Cold Breath) for short, I decided to imagine an actual person standing there for me to slice at. The imaginary target was... Guess who? The shinigami with brown hair and a too-polite-and-insincere smile who wears fake specs of course. I remember that I had regarded the imaginary Aizen with cold calm sadism, and with each strike of my sword, imagined his smiling face being sliced into two in a fine spray of blood. When I was done reducing the imaginary Aizen to a broken ragdoll state all covered in imaginary blood, through my dreamy satisfaction came Kuroisei's voice.

**There you go. Finally figured it out, eh? **

_Kuroisei_, I replied gleefully. _Have you come to tell me I can finally learn your shikai?_

**... ... Yes. I shall make this short. The name of my-and now your-shikai is: moeru hi no kurai kage.** (A/N: that's 'dark shadow of burning fire' in Jap)

Is there anything else I need to know about using the shikai? I recalled Shiroifu not telling me about the most effective way of using her shikai until one month or so after I learnt the shikai.

At first, all I heard was Kuroifu's chuckling and Shiroifu muttering something I didn't quite catch. Then finally Kuroisei spoke again.

**Just a question for you to think about: What is a shadow? **

And then there was more chuckling before it faded into silence. I cursed her mentally. So instead of withholding information about her shikai from me, she leaves me with some cryptic message/instruction. That's just so helpful.

"Yoruka-san. You're making a very weird face," Hitsugaya's voice broke through my mental griping. I blinked and stared at the kid captain. Then I smiled at him. My I've-got-a-surprise-for-you smile.

"Wait, I'd like to try something," I told him and stepped further away from him. Then I raised my swords and whispered, "_Moeru hi no kurai kage_."

My mist-like white blade became more distinct, resembling a blade of light, while my shadowy black blade became even more obscure and faded around the edges. Then without any warning whatsoever, the black blade just disappeared. When Shiroifu's blade dissolved into mist, it still left behind shimmering air to indicate it's existence. However, with Kuroisei's blade, no matter how I turned the hilt, the blade remained unseen. Then when I looked down, I saw that the blade's shadow was still there. Shadow. What is a shadow, Kuroisei had asked me.

"Kenpachi!" I yelled and released my originally-suppressed reiatsu to its max in a burst of energy that shot up into the sky like inverted lightning. I knew that if anything, that would bring Kenpachi to me as quickly as he could.

"What-" began Hitsugaya, staring at me with wide bewildered eyes. But Kenpachi interrupted him when he charged into the 10th Division compound like a rampaging bull and swinging his sword around wildly like a berserker. A berserker with a little pink-haired girl sitting on his shoulder.

"Cheshaa-chan! We found you! Without getting lost!" Yachiru exclaimed gleefully.

"For the first time," Kenpachi added. "What was that sudden surge of reiatsu about?"

"To get you here of course. I knew you'd be attracted to huge reiatsu like a child to an amusement park. I just hope no one else in Soul Society got bothered by it," I replied as I suppressed my reiatsu again. "Now that you're here-"

"I think everyone in Soul Society were seriously bothered by that sudden surge of reiatsu," I heard Hitsugaya say. I turned to stare at him. He was still staring at me with wide eyes.

"What...? I bet you captains have twice that amount of reiatsu."

"... But our reiatsu are always suppressed and even when it's released to it's fullest, it would be approxinately equivalent to yours."

"Mine's always suppressed too. Except for that one time just now. And I release it when I'm fighting Kenpachi too," I said. I still didn't get what his point was.

"Sure you do. And there was I thinking that that reiatsu was your highest. It seems from the burst of reiatsu just now that that isn't the case," Kenpachi said. Wait. What?

"I think what Shiro-chan meant was that your reiatsu level is exceptionally and surprisingly high," Yachiru piped in.

"Okay. I know my reiatsu is higher than many spirits (I said spirits because that includes Arrancars too). But I-"

"Perhaps even when you seem to release your reiatsu to your max, you actually subconsciously limit your reiatsu increase and only when you concentrate on releasing your reiatsu that you break that limit?" Kenpachi said to me. But at the same time, he didn't seem like he was talking to me.

"I'm guessing that Yamamoto-taichou will start to question about this soon," Hitsugaya said. Now I was starting to feel annoyed. They seem to be making too much fuss over my reiatsu. Seriously, what happened to my Zanjutsu lesson?

I watched as Hitsugaya and Kenpachi began a discussion about my reiatsu. Then Matsumoto came along and joined in the discussion. She was followed soon after by Hisagi. The five of them, including Yachiru, kept their discussion down in hushed whispers which annoyed the hell out of me. Occasionally, they'd look up together to glance at me before going back to their discuss.

Finally, I had had enough. To hell with their discussion! I concentrated on my shadow sword. Shadow. What is a shadow? The absence of light. What were its properties? Dark. Flexible. Unfixed in terms of shape with no mass nor volume. The birthplace of nightmares.

Just as I had done with Shiroifu's blade when I was using her shikai, I flicked my wrist, intuitively knowing that it would work the same way. Unlike with Samui Iki (Shiroifu's shikai), the invisible black blade didn't extend nor did it turn into a whip or anything of the sort. But it's shadow did change along with my own shadow.

I stepped lightly forward, swiftly and silently cutting the air with the bladeless sword. My shadow fluctuated and leapt forward like a black candle flame given more oxygen, the tip of my invisible blade's shadow leading the rest of my shadow forward in an arrow-head-like shape. Even when I stepped backwards, the shadow continued to surge forward and when it reached Kenpachi who was my target, it disappeared from under my feet and merged with Kenpachi's shadow. On instinct, I flicked my wrist again.

I guess when I first uttered the triggering words for my shikai technique, I didn't know what to expect. Certainly not my shadow merging with Kenpachi's and leaving me shadowless, and certainly not Kenpachi suddenly doubling over in pain. It certainly did catch the attention of the captains and lieutenants who were originally in their own little discussion ignoring me.

I nearly panicked. Nearly. But I didn't. Instead, I quickly flicked my wrist for the third time and a shadow-my shadow-detached itself from Kenpachi's shadow and returned to the spot under my feet where it belonged. Almost immediately, Kenpachi straightened up and his face was a mix of surprised relief and confusion.

"Gomenasai!" I said, dipping into a short and quick bow. Then I resealed my swords and sheathed the combined blade. For a moment, I wondered if I could use both shikais together, at the same time, then decided to entertain that thought some other time.

"What was that about?" Hisagi was the first to ask. I put my best innocent and blank face on.

"I don't know. I was just trying out my new shikai technique. I didn't expect that to happen. I don't even know what actually happened," I said. Yes. Just keep denying. Just keep denying. Just keep-I think I'm starting sound a bit suspicious. But it was the truth. Well, half-truth. I did have an 'educated guess'-as my teachers like to put it-about what had really happened earlier. But it was just a guess.

"..." All five shinigamis stared at me.

"Do it again!" Yachiru yelled, breaking the silence. Huh?

"Hmm... Yes. Perhaps you should try it again. Let us all watch what happens when you do it," Hitsugaya said.

"But do it on somebody else," Kenpachi said. "Whatever you did, it hurt like hell."

"I know, why don't you try it on-what?" Matsumoto said as Hitsugaya muttered something to her. I had a really bad feeling about this.

"Wait a moment," Matsumoto said and flash-stepped away. She didn't seem very keen on whatever she was about to do. I wanted to ask what was going on and I could tell I wasn't the only one. Yachiru was staring at Hitsugaya with really wide eyes and Kenpachi was also frowning at the kid captain-as if frowning hard enough could allow him to read Hitsugaya's mind. Hisagi looked curious, then surprise.

What was the surprise? The arrival of Kuchiki Byakuya. Kuchiki gave us all a long look, then, "What's going on here?"

It took less than a minute for the whole thing to be retold to him, with each of us pitching in our versions of the story. According to Kenpachi, the invisible attack had felt like a sharp burning pain in his gut. But the attack had left no trace of it's existence except the pain Kenpachi had felt. Remember when I said that my sword spirits' conditions/qualifications for me to learn their shikai and how I thought it might be a coincidence? Well, Shiroifu's qualification was an calm and laid-back attitude and her shikai had been one to numb the senses. Whereas Kuroisei's qualification was the intent to harm and her shikai had been one to inflict imaginary pain. A coincidence? Unlikely.

A minute later, when Kuchiki had been filled in the details and was waiting with us, we sensed Matsumoto's reiatsu returning to us along with another reiatsu. A familiar one.

First, I saw Kuchiki raise an eyebrow, his face otherwise expressionless. Hisagi and Yachiru looked plain surprised. Hitsugaya was impassive. Kenpachi frowned, jaw slacked, then snorted and I couldn't tell if he was laughing or what. Then he patted me on my back. I had the strangest of feeling that all five of them knew who the other reiatsu belonged to and assumed that I had no idea who it belonged to.

You know the feeling of being left out on a secret? They were right; I didn't know who this shinigami was going to be... Not until I concentrated on his reiatsu and found it disturbingly familiar. Yes, they were right; I shouldn't know this shinigami yet. But I did. And I now wish I didn't.

Matsumoto came around the corner with another shinigami behind her. So this was the guy I was supposed to try my new shikai on? This guy wearing billowy shinigami garb, hands hidden in his sleeves, purple-tinted silver hair above a fox-like smiling face? My face was perfectly blank and expressionless, but on the inside, I was mentally banging my head against an imaginary wall.

"Cheshaa-chan, this is Ichimaru Gin, the Captain of the 3rd Division. Gin, this is Yoruka Chizuki, the human shinigami student," Matsumoto said. I blinked. Stared. And couldn't even force my face into any of my usual smiles.

"Konnichiwa," Ichimaru greeted me. "So you're the one everyone's been talking about. I heard from Rangiku that you're going to try out your new shikai on me?"

"Ano..." I paused, hesitated, and shifted on the spot uncomfortably. If anything, Kitsune-taichou's grin got even wider when he saw my discomfort.

"Say, why are you called Cheshaa-chan? Which name would you prefer me to call you by?" Ichimaru said conversationally. This suddenly reminded me of the few interactions I've witnessed between Gin and an unfortunate Arrancar. The ones that leaves the Arrancars speechless and quivering with fear as his white snake aura coil around them. I was never one of those Arrancars. I had no intention of becoming one. Even though I was no longer an Arrancar. That didn't mean I'd let Ichimaru Gin think I was one of those many poor souls that will tremble at the sight of him and his smile.

"You can call me whatever you want... As long as you'd allow me to call you whatever I want," I replied, finally succeeding in displaying a Cheshire Cat smile at him. I told myself months ago that I'd never call him 'taichou' unless it was 'Kitsune-taichou' that I was saying. Of course, that was when I was still an Arrancar. But I was still me, Arrancar or not.

"What about Neko-chan, then?" He seemed delighted if anything. Two months of hanging out around him in Las Noche had trained me to more or less read his emotions even when his smiley face was on most of the time. So I could tell that he wasn't the least bit upset of my lack of respect for me when I said what I said. I could also tell that the other shinigami around me were shocked at our exchange.

"That's fine with me, but only if you don't mind me calling you Hebi-kun," I replied smoothly, a smirk replacing the Cheshire Cat grin on my face. Since I couldn't very well call him Kitsune-taichou without revealing that I was Sangre (I was still wary about letting any of the three shinigami Arrancar leaders know my real identity, nevermind if they figure it out themselves eventually), I settled with Snake instead of Fox (A/N: While 'kitsune' is fox in Japanese, 'hebi' means snake).

"That's settled then. Now, about your shikai practice..." He opened his arms wide, in a this-is-your-chance-to-attack-me-now gesture. I felt rather than heard the intake of breath behind me as everyone else seem to be prepared for whatever was about to happen. And I just stared at him.

I understood their reaction. Gin was unpredictable. Mysterious. No one really knows what he's thinking of behind that smiley mask of his. No one, not even me. I could only make guesses that were 70% right most of the time. So it could be understood that no one really knows what would happen if I strike him with my new shikai. There were three possibilities: a) he manages to dodge each time I try it, laughing as he does so b) he gets hit and strikes back c) he gets too overwhelmed by the pain that his smiley face gets wiped off. I didn't like to think of the third possibility. But since this shikai of mine was new, I didn't know how to control it. Which means anything could happen.

_Kuroisei!_

**Hai?** came Kuroisei's voice. It was a lazy drawl.

_I want you to do what Shiroifu did with me in my inner world._

**... ... Magic word?**

_Please. Now can we-!_ Before I finished my sentence, I felt a moment of vertigo and found myself in the chessboard-like inner world of mine. Kuroisei was sitting in a black tree in a black square. Shiroifu was in the next tree in a white square.

**Does this have anything to do with that fox-faced captain?** Kuroisei asked. She was smirking away.

_**I think she's got a crush on him,**_ Shiroifu said to Kuroisei. And as indignant I was about it, I couldn't say a thing. I wanted to deny it. But there was an irritating small voice in my head that told me that Shiroifu just may be right.

**Oh oh oh! Chizuki and Gin, sitting on a tree, K-I-**

_Oi! I do not have a crush on him!_ There. I denied it. I seem to be denying a lot of things today. And I found that Kuroisei was about as annoying as... Gin. Wth.

**Yeah right. Go on lying to yourself. Shiroifu's right. You seem to have feelings for him**, Kuroisei said, her smirk getting wider.

_Not the point. This isn't what I asked you to do. I said-_

**I know what you said. Alright. If you wish.** A sword appeared in Kuroisei's hand like a coin in a magician's hand. Still sitting in the tree, she did the hand-flicking thing and the black blade disappeared. With another flick of the hand, the entire tree's shadow sharpened at one point and extended towards me.

I leapt backwards to avoid the stretching shadow and still it surged on. I must have been a good 11 meters away before the shadow stopped, seeming to have reached it's limit. The lesson? It's possible to borrow the shadow of another object to increase the size of the attacking shadow.

I turned my attention back to Kuroisei who was still smirking. With another flick of her hand, I saw the shadow of the tree leave the tree roots and the entire mass of darkness shot towards me like a 2D cannonball on the ground. It was too big and fast for me to avoid it, it reached me easily and merged with my shadow. Surprisingly, the size of my shadow did not change, but that didn't relieve me of my fears. Even when nothing seemed to happen (other than the fact that the tree was now shadowless) I was still tensed, waiting for something to happen.

I heard Kuroisei laugh and looked up. She flicked her hand once more and I suddenly felt myself drowning. Drowning in pitch black darkness that was everywhere. It was suffocating and I could feel the hole in my chest seem to grow bigger. I panicked and struggled, and if anything, the lack of air seem to increase even more rapidly. I forced myself to relax and analyze the situation. I didn't know where I was or what had happened. I found that I couldn't even feel my body nor see it either. Shit. What was going on?

Then suddenly, a sharp burst of pain exploded within me and light blinded my vision. When the light and pain receded, I found myself back in my inner world on the chess playing field. I staggered on my feet for a moment then stared at Kuroisei.

_What the hell just happened?_ I asked. Seriously, what the hell was that?

Kuroisei leapt off the tree she had been comfortably sitting in and walked towards me. That was when I noticed that the tree still had no shadow. Which meant that the shadow was still merged with mine. Which means-

**Oh, how much pain they have cost us, the evils which have never happened**, Kuroisei said to me as she drew closer. I blinked and suddenly understood the abilities of this shikai. With it, I could make my victim experience any fear or pain that I wished. As different from Shiroifu's shikai as black is from white. And both were quite dangerous.

When Kuroisei had walked out from under the tree's shade-or rather, the shade that should have been there and would have been there if not for this shikai-a huge mass of black surged out from under me and the huge shadow detached itself from mine and shot back towards the tree, passing underneath Kuroisei as it did so. But strangely enough, Kuroisei's shadow did not return to her. And my feeling of dread slowly melted away but not quite. There was still a small pinprick of fear that still resided within me. The next lesson I learnt: the size of the attacking shadow affects the magnitude of the pain/fear the victim will feel.

Then with a flick of her hand, another shadow, a smaller one this time, detached itself from mine and returned to Kuroisei. She grinned at me.

**So, was that good enough for you?** she asked.

_Yeah. One more question though. What are the limits for that shooting shadow thing? _

She chuckled. **Let's call the maximum length of a stretched shadow L. The shadow cannot be shot beyond L, but once it's edge reaches L, it still can stretch itself to it's furthest. So the maximum reach of this shikai would be 2L. The only other limit is this: while a shadow is still attached, it can be move wherever and however it wants like a whip. But once the shadow is sent away from it's owner, it cab only shoot out in one direction straight forwards. Like how a ray of light can only travel in a straight line. But if there's another object in it's path, the shadow can bounce off the object like reflected light rays. **

I made a face. Who knew shinigami arts would involve physics.

When I returned back to the normal space and time in the 'real world', I grinned at Ichimaru Gin.

"Never mind about the shikai practice. I think I've more or less got my shikai figured out already," I told him.

"Aww... I wanted to see what your shikai is like," Gin said. I very nearly told him to find me Aizen and I'd demonstrate my shikai for him, but had enough sense to keep my mouth shut.

"You said that you've figured it out?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Hai," I said, still grinning. I think that grin's temporarily frozen on my face.

"How?" he pressed.

"I asked my swords," I replied casually, as if talking to swords was the most common thing around. Of course I knew that most shinigami should be able to talk to their swords... Except maybe Kenpachi.

"You've talked to them before?" Kenpachi asked.

"Yeah. How else was I supposed to have learnt my shikai?" I replied. I searched through my memories thoroughly, quite sure that I must have mentioned this before. And now I recalled that I had. And to Kenpachi as well as Yamamoto no less. It was during my first day (or rather, night) in Soul Society when I followed a random shinigami in and got caught by Kenpachi and Yachiru and brought to Yamamoto for 'questioning'. Did he forget it so fast, and did the captain commander tell anyone else about it?

"Well, why do you not want to try out your shikai on Ichimaru Gin?" Matsumoto asked me, sounding very curious.

"This is a rare opportunity. You may not get a chance like this again, you know," Hisagi said. "Now that he's willing to be your practice target..."

"Yeah... And it should be interesting to see his fox smile get wiped off his face," Kenpachi added. Seriously. These people.

"Hn. What about wiping that crazy maniac grin off your face?" I responded. I did not add that it was unfortunately, too easy to imagine him as Nnoitra and use my shikai on him.

"Y'know, I think I like ya," Ichimaru said cheerfully.

"What if I don't like you?" I asked, testing him. It was like meeting Gin all over again. At least he didn't ask me if we've met before, like he did in Las Noche. Come to that, it seems like I've met him three times already as three different people. Human, then Hollow, then Shinigami. And each time, the setting and situation is different.

"You don't like me?" he replied with mock-surprise.

"No I don't," I said with a smile. I was once again careful not to smile too much, lest he recognize my smiles.

"No, you don't like me or no, you don't don't like me?"

"What d'you think?" I asked in return.

"I think, we should continue with our Zanjutsu lesson," interrupted Hitsugaya. I turned to face the other shinigami to see them staring at Ichimaru and I, presumably watching our game-like conversation.

"Oh! So you finally remembered that we were still during my Zanjutsu lesson time!" I exclaimed with some measure of sarcasm. I mean, he did forget about this when he was deep in conversation with the others about my reiatsu. I told him as much when i saw him frown at my remark. Why did I have a feeling that he and Gin do not get along?

"So that burst of reiatsu earlier was yours?" Gin asked, sounding curious. A curious Gin could never be a good thing.

"Hai. I did it to attract Kenpachi to me. Apparently, it attracted a lot of other people too," I said, gesturing to Hisagi, Matsumoto and Byakuya.

"Hmm... Well I must be going now. Your Zanjutsu sensei seems to be taking offense in my presence here... Even though he was the one who wanted me here in the first place. See ya."

"... See ya." I replied. The silver-haired shinigami turned to leave, then spun around to face me again.  
"Before I go, may I ask you... Do you like persimmons?"

I gulped, suddenly acutely aware of my guilty conscience from stealing persimmons from some shinigami's persimmon garden. "Yes."

"Have you been stealing my persimmons?" Gin asked with that smile of his, looking like a snake that has caught it's prey.

I may tell half-truths, or manipulate the truths into something not quite recognizable, but I almost never lie. So I said the first thing that came to my mind, "Those persimmon trees were yours?"

"Yes," he replied and paused for a long time, probably to watch me squirm in guilt and mortification. "But I guess I'm pleased that you like my persimmons... By the way, do you know when's my birthday?"

"No," I said, wondering what's with that random question. What? Did he want me to give him back the persimmons I owe him for his birthday or what?

"Hmm..." Gin looked thoughtful for awhile, then he said, "It's September 10th. It so happen that on that day, and only that day, I didn't find any persimmons missing from that tree."

"Oh." But what else could I say. It was strange though. That on the one day I felt guilty enough not to steal any persimmons, it was his birthday.

"Ah well, never mind then. But do come by the 3rd Division compound again someday and I'll treat you with dried persimmon." I watched his smiling face and frowned.

"... Thanks? But how do I know you're not saying this just to tease me?"

I was surprised to see his eyes widen a little (but not enough for me to even catch a glimpse of the color of his eyes) and his smile slipped a little (but was still quite wide). These changes were such small details that I'm sure those who didn't know him well would notice it.

"You don't trust me?" he asked in a playful voice. I could tell that he was actually surprised by what I said though. I suppose he didn't expect me to be able to discern his sort of character when we've only just met. He doesn't know we've met before of course. And I bet he's able to fool even people who already know what kind of person he is.

We stood there watching as he went off laughing, probably to go tease some other shinigami, and I was left wondering if I should visit his Division's compound for dried persimmons. I still didn't know if he was just fooling me when he offered to treat me to dried persimmons earlier. I knew i definitely wouldn't continue my persimmon-stealing spree from today onwards though. Then Hitsugaya cleared his throat and I spun around, standing at attention.

"Yessir?" I said as I saluted. One moment later, I face-palmed "Crap. I've got to stop speaking and acting like that. It's all that bloody snake's fault."

"I never knew you were this interesting," was all Kenpachi commented. Not long later, he and Yachiru left the 10th Division compound, followed by Byakuya and Hisagi. Matsumoto looked like she wanted to say something before she left, but in the end she didn't tell me what was on her mind then.

There was a long awkward silence after everyone else left. Hitsugaya kept frowning at something I couldn't see, while I just stared at him. Finally, I sighed and apologized for whatever I did wrong-and I wasn't sure just what was it that I did wrong. There were so many possibilities.

"It's fine. I have something I must say... But before that, may I ask, why didn't you try your shikai on Ichimaru Gin?" Hitsugaya replied and his frown deepened. "The truth please."

"The truth?" I raised an eyebrow. "I didn't want to hurt him."

"Who would you rather hurt then?"

"Aizen," I muttered, in case there was anyone else listening in. "But don't tell anyone I said that."

Hitsugaya just nodded and looked slightly deep in thought before saying, quite solemnly, "We're done here. You've graduated from my class as of today."

"... ..."

When I didn't say anything, he looked up and stared at me. "What? No reaction? No cheering or anything? I expected you to-"

"Can I hug you?" I blurted out. Wait. _What did I just say?_

"No, you may not," Hitsugaya replied, sounding slightly annoyed. "That was not what I expected though."

"Then can I-never mind." I clamped my mouth shut in time. I guess I had better hurry off, maybe go find Kenpachi to tell him the news or something... before I asked him anything else that might offend him.

"Wait. What was it that you were going to ask?" the kid captain demanded. I gave him a you-do-know-want-to-know look. I think that just made him even more curious though.

"Say it," ordered Hitsugaya as I edged away from him. I shifted on the spot nervously.

"Can I call you Toshiro-kun?" Gyaaah! I actually said it! "No! Shit. I never said anything! Pretend you didn't hear that! Forget-"

"Yes," Hitsugaya interrupted me with a weird expression that looked like a cross between embarrassment and resignation.

"Yes what?" I asked with eyes wide as I stared at the kid captain who now looked extremely uncomfortable.

"Yes, you may call me by my last name."

* * *

**So... How didja like it? RnR please! Shall update as soon as possibel i.e. not very soon.**

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	19. Chapter 19: Unpredictable

**Here's the chapter. I know it's very late but... I've been busy with school. So... hope you enjoy this chapter better than I do, cuz I think it isn't very good, plot-wise.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. If I did, I wouldn't be sitting here writing this fanfic.**

* * *

Chapter 19: Unpredictable

_"Always mystify, mislead and surprise the enemy if possible."_

I knocked on the door. The 3rd Division lieutenant had told me this was where Gin was. I could hear laughter coming from the other side of the door, but no one came to open the door. I knocked on the door again, louder this time. Still no response. What the hell were they doing in there?

Fine. I shall just open the damn door myself and forget about common courtesy. I opened the door to find Matsumoto and Gin drinking. They were seated at a table, laughing and chatting, with a few bottles of sake on the table. Matsumoto looked quite drunk and her face was flushed. Gin... It was hard to tell. His face had just a little pink tinge to his cheeks, and he seemed to be in better control of his speech than Matsumoto.

But they were both drunk. Of that I was certain. And being the only one underaged in the room, I decided to quickly leave before they see me. Matsumoto had tried on several occasions to make me drink with her and some other shinigami even though I clearly stated to almost everyone I know that I DO NOT drink.

I walked away from the 3rd Division compound, passed by Izuru again, who gave me a questioning look.

"They're drunk," I said to him, my face becoming expressionless like it always does when I'm trying very hard not to think of something... In this case, Matsumoto and Gin all drunk.

"You don't drink?" he asked. Now he was staring at my blank face. Probably because when I met him the first time, before I had gone and seen his captain and Matsumoto drinking, I had been quite nervous. Nervous because I was going to find Gin, and nervous because of the reason I was finding Gin for.

"No. I am underaged," I informed him. Then I was going to go find Kenpachi and maybe hang out with the 11th Division until my kido lessons with Hisagi and Byakuya starts... when someone called my name in a cheerful voice.

"Neko-chan! Mate! (A/N: mate as in 'wait' in Jap, not 'mate' in the biological sense. Just in case some of you misread the word)" I turned around to see a wide-eyed Izuru staring at a half-drunk Gin who was ambling towards me. Sheesh. If he wanted me to wait, he could at least walk faster than that. Then I began to wonder if he'll fall flat on his face if he were to run while drunk. Probably not, since he's Ichimaru Gin.

I waited anyways. And soon he was in right in front of me, his laughing face too near for comfort. I stepped backwards to give myself more space, but he just slung an arm over my shoulders. My blank face almost twitched with annoyance.

"Ohayo~! What are you doing here, Neko-chan~? Oh yes! I promised to let you try my dried persimmons, didn't I. Well-" he went on merrily, totally ignoring (or maybe unaware of?) my mild discomfort at having a drunken person so close to me.

"I don't mind trying your dried persimmons but that's not why I came here. Oyasuminasai." I said stiffly and tried to squirm away from him. It wasn't that I didn't like alcohol. And thankfully, Gin's breath didn't reek of sake like some drunkards' do. But drunk people tend to be quite unpredictable, and since this is Gin... I'd rather get away from the trickster asap.

"Then what did'ja come here for? Sake? Rangiku and I were-"

"I don't drink," I said for the hundredth time, feeling rather exasperated. "And nevermind what I came here for."

"Aww... Neko-chan's leaving so soon? Are you trying to get away from me?" This guy... Can still play with me while he's half-drunk... Might as well ask him now, though I'll probably have to ask him again when he's sober.

"Can you teach me, or rather, tell me what I must do in order to learn bankai?"

"Hm?" Gin steps backward (finally!) and regards me with an amused expression. I began to wonder if he really was drunk after all.

"Well, in order to achieve bankai, one usually takes at least ten years of training before... Why do you want to learn bankai?" he replied after a while.

"Well, why not? I know I'm not even an official shinigami yet but... Wait, why am I bothering to explain anything to you in the first place?" I said irritably.

"Because I'm still somewhat sober? You haven't seen me totally drunk yet, y'know," he said casually. So he knew I was trying to avoid him because I thought he was drunk! This guy is impossible!

"You seem to be of no help, drunk or sober," I replied. "And don't tell me you didn't intend on being of any help."

He looked delighted and surprised at the same time and clapped his hands in mock applause. "How did you know I was going to say that?"

Because that's what I would usually say to my friends when they accuse me of 'not helping at all'. But I didn't say that aloud. I just shrugged, then raised an eyebrow. "Seeing as it's you... It's not hard to guess what kind of stuff you're gonna say."

"Really? Am I that easy to figure out?" he asked playfully.

"No," I admitted. "You're totally unpredictable." Except that sometimes, when I'm in the mood for playing around with people (e.g. Akirai or Nnoitra), we can be quite similar. I didn't say that aloud either.

"Hmm... But that contradicts what you said earli-"

"I think your face and words contradicts your thoughts sometimes," I said, interrupting him. Wait. I did not just say that. Too late to take back my words though.

"You're quite cheeky, aren't you?" he asked, still smiling. No, he was grinning. And there's a difference: when he grins, he's usually up to no good. Then again, I get a feeling he's up to no good most of the time.

"This conversation in pointless," I finally said, turned around, and started to walk away while he laughed as I went. Then I remembered something. So I stopped in my tracks and turned around to face him again. Time to make a gamble.

"Could you do me a favor?" I asked him. Now he seemed a little curious and stopped laughing.

"That depends on the favor," he said with a smirk.

"Can you keep this whole bankai thing to yourself?" I asked. " 'cuz there are certain people I'd rather not have them know I'm trying to learn bankai."

"Like who?" Oh that simple question, yet loaded with meaning... And mischief. The thing is, he is unpredictable. There was a chance that he'd actually keep it a secret, but there was a higher chance of him telling everyone about it now that he knows I don't want certain people to know. Just for the sake of toying with me.

I took the risk, "People like Hitsugaya-taichou and..."

"And?" he prompted. I hesitated a while longer, then...

"And Aizen-taichou," I managed to say, as much as I hate to call that weasel '-taichou'. Yes, weasel. Aizen totally reminds me of a weasel. Hmm... A weasel and a snake/fox. Hmm...

"Why?" he prompted further, his grin getting wider. Not good... Not good... Shut up, mouth. My mouth didn't shut up.

"Hitsugaya-taichou, cuz he is... was... my Zanjutsu teacher and I want it to be a surprise for him. Aizen-taichou, cuz... Um... He... Offered to teach me but I rather not... Get taught by him..."

"And why would you think I'd even tell anyone about this?" he asked. Seriously, stop talking! Stupid mouth.

"Well, you might inform Hitsugaya-taichou about it because he used to teach me Zanjutsu... And you might tell Aizen-taichou about it because..." Because I know the two of you are in cahoots. At last, I had the sense to shut up then. I can totally imagine that fox having a nice conversation with Aizen about me asking him to teach me bankai, while taking a leisurely walk in Las Noche or something.

"Because?" Again with the prompting. I clamped my mouth shut and shook my head.

"Never mind. Forget it. I just think the less people know about an Academy student learning bankai, the better it is for me. Everyone's already making a fuss about my reiatsu..." I said, which was half-true. Then...

"Fine. I won't tell."

"Huh?" I stared at his grinning face. "You're serious?"

"It'll be more fun to keep this a little secret between us, eh?" he said, still grinning. I had no choice but to take his word for it. Then I went off to find Kenpachi, still feeling a little suspicious about that fox.

...

"Konnichiwa!"

I stared at the man who was now smiling amicably at me. His eyes were half hidden in the shadow of his green-and-white-striped hat, and he was waving this fan around while wearing green traditional Japanese garb, including a black haori with white diamond patterns at the edge (that reminded me of an 'negative' version of a shinigami captain haori) and Japanese sandals. He also had this cane that he kept swinging around.

"Do I know you?" I asked him. Who's this random guy greeting me? He looks... Like a shopkeeper. But not an ordinary shopkeeper. There was something else about him that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"I'm Urahara Kisuke," he introduced himself, and I suddenly recalled, a long time ago when I first returned to Karakura Town after my stay in Hueco Mundo, a ghost friend of mine had told me about a shinigami shopkeeper who had kept my body in his shop.

"Oh!" I exclaimed aloud. "You own that Urahara shop selling candy!"

He chuckled. "That's right. Well, I was just wondering if you know of a girl called Mira."

"..." Mira was the name of the ghost girl that I had made friends with. She was sent to soul society by that shinigami shopkeeper shortly after I got my body back from his shop. He must have recognized me... Or rather, my body.

"What do you know about spirits?" he asked me after I failed to give him a proper reply. If I were any other ordinary human, I would have thought: who's this crazy man?

But I wasn't any other ordinary human. So I said, "Everyone has a spirit that lives on after they die. Some may stay here in the human world, some may move on, and some may turn evil."

Well I knew a hell lot more about spirits than that, but I sure as hell won't tell him anymore until he explains himself further.

"Do you know what a spirit looks like?" he just continued to ask. Seriously, what was his point?

"I don't think there's a definite appearance for spirits... But I should think that most of them would resemble their bodies... I mean, they should still look the same dead or alive, right? Except maybe more... Translucent-ish?" I replied, trying to pretend that I didn't know more than I should. And the way he smirked at me told me that he wasn't falling for it.

"Well I'm curious. Mind if I have a look at your spirit?" Now that was an odd question. And before I forget... we're standing on the sidewalk of a busy shopping district. I had just finished an errand (Yachiru had insisted on me helping her buy simple walkie-talkies from the human world for the Shinigami Women's Association) and was about to return home to my apartment when I met this Urahara guy.

"Here?" was my first response. The I realized that I had just slipped up and failed to point out what an absurd suggestion he was making, like how a normal human would have done. Instead, I had been more focused on the fact that we were in a crowded place full of humans walking about.

"Perhaps not," Urahara admitted cheerfully. "Mind following me back to my shop then? I could give you some goodies for free in return."

I hesitated, but followed him anyways. I must do something about my curiosity one of these days. But not today.

He led me away from the crowd, past my home, past Kurosaki's home, until we reached his shop. There were two kids sweeping the floor outside. One girl, one boy, and both looked to be around... eight years old? Both of them looked up from their work and stared at me when we approached.

"Who are you?" the boy demanded. I shrugged.

"No one in particular," I said, wondering if he'll catch my sarcasm. He did, and frowned more than he was already frowning.

"Oh yes! I don't believe you've introduced yourself yet!" Urahara exclaimed, spun around and grinned at me. Somehow, he seemed a bit like a cross between Akirai and Hanaha for some reason or other...

"Err... I'm Yoruka Chizuki," I said. "Now what?"

"Now," Urahara paused (for effect?) and before I knew it, something hit me hard on my forehead. Ouch. This guy must be really good to have caught me off guard like that. I rubbed my forehead, then realized I was no longer in my body, and I was staring at a skull symbol at the end of a cane that Urahara was pointing at me. Wth.

"EH?!" shouted the boy, staring at me. Okay... So he can see spirits? I suppose, since he's working for a shinigami... But why was he so surprised to see me-

"You're a shinigami?!" Oh. I see. At least I wasn't in my Arrancar form (and haven't been for ages). He'd freak if he did.

"No. Not really," I said, and stared at my clothes. I was still in the shinigami academy student uniform (sword included though). So, technically, I wasn't a proper shinigami yet. And I was human too. An hollow. Urgh. I'm surprised I haven't started facing some sort of identity crisis yet. Or maybe I have, and simply just didn't realize it.

"A shinigami student in the body of a human. Interesting," commented Urahara. "Or perhaps, a human with the spirit of a shinigami student."

"Speak for yourself," I retorted. "What's a shinigami doing as a shopkeeper in the human world? And what were you gonna do with my body the other time?"

"How did you know I'm a shinigami? Well, you could say that I have retired from my soul reaper job. But I still serve shinigami who have duty here in the human world, such as providing gigais, faux bodies," Urahara said. "When I found that your body wasn't rotting when I found it, I was going to keep it and do some experiments with it regarding my gigai research. Until you stole it of course."

"Mira told me you were a shinigami. And that was my body, so technically, you were the one stealing it from me, not the other way around," I replied.

"What happened that night?" he suddenly asked, looking a little more serious now. Which was surprising considering he had appeared so 'gay' (A/N: 'gay' as in 'merry', 'jovial' etc, NOT 'gay' as in 'homosexual') from the moment I met him till now. I gave him a blank look and he clarified, "the night I found your body without your spirit."

"Oh," I hesitated. Then there was something about him that made me trust him, despite his dubious character. I guess I have a bad habit of trusting people I shouldn't trust e.g. Gin. So I told him my story. The whole story. Without any half-truths or cryptic words and ambiguity. I rationalized with myself that since he's a retired shinigami, he may not mind me being a hollow so much. And besides, I'm not a bad guy... I think.

Urahara listened attentively, and did not interrupt me once. He looked so serious by the end of it (I stopped at the part where I graduated from Toshiro's class) that I became quite unnerved, since my first impression of him is a carefree funny shopkeeper. Then I asked, "Are you gonna tell soul society about Aizen?"

I was surprised when he shook his head. But I guess he must have his reasons, so I didn't question him. After all, I hadn't thought of telling any other shinigami about Aizen and his Arrancar army either. And not just because I too, was an Arrancar. I should I say this... I felt like I belonged in both soul society and Hueco Mundo, and yet, somehow, I felt like... I wasn't really part of anything. I wasn't some loyal servant of Aizen, nor was I one to die for the shinigamis... I mean, I had my own personal goals, and friends that I won't mind dying to protect, but I didn't really feel like taking any side. Hell, if Toshiro and Grimm ended up fighting each other, I wouldn't know who to help.

"So, you want to learn bankai?" Urahara said after a while of silence. I blinked.

"Eh? Since when did I say..." then I remembered that even if I hadn't told him about asking Gin to teach me bankai, I had told him about my conversation with Matsumoto about learning bankai by Toshiro's birthday... Which, I realized, was only two months away. It was October already.

"I have a method to help you learn bankai in three days," Urahara began, shocking me into silence. "But this method is very dangerous and if it is used more than three times consecutively, it is possibly fatal to the user. Normally, I would recommend you to learn your bankai the way most shinigami do... But since you're not exactly a typical shinigami, I think your chances of success with this method is higher... And it would be interesting. For a hollow-turned-shinigami."

"So I'm like a guinea pig then?" I asked. No doubt I was a guinea pig of Aizen too. Urahara smiled.

"Yes, that is one way to put it. I have seen shinigamis turn into hollows before, but not the other way round..." he trailed off and something dark flashed in his eyes. Scary. This man is scary. Somehow, he reminds me a little of Gin: I can't really tell if his face is a mask or his genuine emotion.

"I'll think about it," I told him and returned back into my body. We exchanged cheerful goodbyes and I left.

...

One month later, I still wasn't able to figure out how to do bankai. And Toshiro's birthday was getting nearer and nearer. I was still considering Urahara's offer, but would it make sense if I thought that his method sounded a little like cheating? While waiting for my Kido lessons to begin, I had nothing to do, as usual, and I spoke to my swords about learning bankai. I wonder why I never thought about it before. Irritatingly, both swords burst into laughter as soon as I mentioned it to them.

What?! I demanded.

Nothing... Nothing at all, said the both of them at the same time, still chuckling. Hmph. Very convincing indeed.

Well, you've gotta convince us that you're good enough to learn our bankai and we'll see how that goes, eh? Kuroisei said. Them and their conditions again. Were all swords like that?

I was just about to ask them about the requirements to achieve bankai when a familiar group of rowdy people came along and nearly ran over me in their excitement.

"Found ya!" exclaimed Yachiru cheerfully. Then Ikkaku pushed his way through the crowd of 11th Division members until he wa standing right beside Yumichika and Kenpachi.

"Guess what day it is today?" he said. Huh? These people are getting weirder every day. The more I get to know them, the more I seem to not know about them; they never fail to surprise me.

"It's my birthday!" Kenpachi proudly proclaimed and I sat up immediately.

"Whaaat?! Shit! I-I didn't know-I mean, no one told me! Crap, I never thought to ask-I don't have a present-didn't think-"

"Cheshaa-chan's kinda cute when she's panicky," Yachiru commented and I felt my face heat up. Damn it. At least Kenpachi's laughing. That means he doesn't mind me not giving him a prezzie... Right?

"Well, only you would be so concerned about giving people birthday presents," Kenpachi said, and I remembered that they were far far older than I was and perhaps in soul society, people can't be bothered with presents when they live for so long and have had so many birthdays already? I dunno.

"We figured you'd be concerned about giving Kenpachi a present, so we've solved that problem for you," Yumichika said. "Since we didn't give you a present on your birthday-"

"Wait... Do you guys know when my birthday is?" I asked, feeling suspicious.

"June 8th right?" Yumichika replied. Eh? I don't remember telling anyone here my birthday... Except maybe that one person who forced it out of me back in...

"We asked around," Yachiru said. "But no one knew except Aizen who told us he thinks it's the 8th of June though he wasn't sure."

"He-How the hell does he know-crap. He knows." Aizen knows. I only told him once. In Las Noche. Which means he must have guessed my identity. $& €£¥#%!

"Anyways," continued Yumichika, not noticing my internal cursing at Aizen. "We've decided on a gift that could serve as a present for both you and Kenpachi. Remember the last time, when we said we had a surprise for you if you could defeat Kenpachi in that match and you did? Well, this will also be that surprise."

"The suspense is killing me," I said, starting to feel irritable. Might be because of Aizen, the one person who never fails to ruin my day, even when he's out of my sight.

"We've talked to the old fart about it, and he agreed. It was mainly Yachiru's idea though, and my third and fifth seats seconded it. I quite like the preposition myself," Kenpachi began to say. Get to the point. Get to the point.

"Would you like to join us?" Yumichika suddenly asked. I think I looked like a goldfish then, what with my mouth hanging open so wide.

"You know, join the 11th Division as an unseated member?" Ikkaku explained. Kami. Were they serious? Okay, imagine this: you're thinking about learning bankai for your teacher's birthday, you've asked people for help but they can't or won't help, someone offers to help you learn bankai using a dangerous shortcut method, your swords aren't cooperating, the deadline is approaching, and suddenly, your favorite buddies from the 11th Division offers you a place in the division before you even graduate from the Shinigami Acedemy. No wonder my brain short-circuited for a moment there.

"Cheshaa-chan~ Is something wrong?" Yachiru asked. She was no longer on Kenpachi's shoulder and was sitting in front of me. Everyone else was crowding around and watching me.

"Well... I never really thought about joining any division yet... But if I were to choose a division, there's this division I don't mind joining... They're the friendliest to me so far... But I never thought I'd actually join them because I don't really fit their qualifications..." I paused and watched their faces, wondering if they were getting what I was implying. Serves them right if they don't. Now they'll know how irritating suspense can be.

"If there's another division you prefer-" Ikkaku began, proving that he had as much brains as a pachinko ball.

"What are the qualifications of this division?" Yumichika interrupted.

"Loud. Rowdy. Violent. Loves to fight..." I said, grinning as I listed out the characteristics of a typical 11th Division shinigami. "... Rude."

Now they got it. And snorted at the list of characteristics I associated with them. Some, like Kenpachi, just laughed.

"You're right," he said, still laughing. "You're more like that snake, Gin, than us. But that doesn't matter. You fit our qualifications quite alright. I'm captain here. Whatever I say, goes. Who can argue with me when I say you'll make a good 11th Division shinigami?"

This, is why I love this division. They're so fun... Even if their idea of fun can be a little warped sometimes... But who am I to say that? I am a little sadistic after all.

"I'll join... But on one condition," I say, knowing that it'll be a condition they'll gladly agree to anyways. They look at me expectantly. "Help me achieve bankai."

"In other words, spar with you as often as we can, right?" Kenpachi said, ready to take any opportunity to fight with me. "Deal. Now let's go tell the old fart the news!"

Then the ran off and I somehow got carried away with them, like a log in a rushing river. Heh. Now that I'm part of a division, I'm one step nearer to my goal. What a nice birthday present that was. Now I was even more determined to give Toshiro just as good a prezzie.

...

Things changed pretty quickly after that. Yamamoto allowed me to move into the 11th Division quarters and word got around that I had joined a Division before I graduated. Apparently this has been done before, but not often. So I was no longer a human student doing shinigami stuff as a part-time thing, but a trainee-shinigami doing human student stuff as a part-time thing.

I still rented that apartment in the human world (the one I stayed in before moving into soul society) as a temporary home where I went to after school but I no longer slept there. I kept the apartment partly because I didn't want to explain to my friends about the move.

I sometimes brought my school work to soul society to do, when I'm not sparring with the 11th Division people or attending Kido lessons, much to the fascination of many a shinigami. There was once when I was doing my biology homework when this scary shinigami captain with a scary smile (shinigamis and their various smiles! I should make a record of all the smiles of the spirits I meet one of these days!) came along and asked me about some morbid stuff. Not that I minded the morbidity, but I didn't like his appearance. Along with his captain's uniform, he also wore a white hat with two extensions that pointed to his right, as well as a bloated purple cravat around his neck. His face was also covered in face paint and he reminded me of a mad scientist. After Kenpachi had chased that creepy shinigami away, I found out that he's Kurotsuchi Mayuri, the captain of the 12th Division and second president of the Soul Reaper Research and Development institute. The first president had been a now-exiled shinigami known as... Guess who? Urahara Kisuke.

* * *

**That's all for now. Am still working on the next chapter... who knows when it'll get uploaded... Review please! _**


	20. Chapter 20: Bankai Training

**Okay, I know it's been really long since I last updated... Three months? So sorry about that, but I had important exams plus writers block to worry about so... I might as well apologize in advance for this short-ish chapter too. I'm not quite satisfied with it and I suddenly wonder if my writing skills have gone down. Nevermind. I promise to update with a more eventful chapter soon, okay? Hope you enjoy this chapter more than I do.**

**Disclaimer: How many times must I repeat that I do not own any anime or manga, let alone Bleach?**

* * *

Chapter 20: Bankai Training

_"The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is thinking that having problems is a problem."_

They always say that when there's a will, there's a way... But no matter how hard I try, I still can't seem to get Kuroisei and Shiroifu to tell me their bankai. I still have approximately three weeks left... And everyone's telling me I won't make it in time. Of course finally belonging to a division helped... especially a fight-loving division.

Kenpachi and Ikkaku takes every opportunity to spar with me, and sometimes, other members of the division too. Unfortunately, my training was often interrupted by school and homework. It was worse now that Mayuri has taken to stalking me (which was much worse than Emo Ulqui stalking me) and Yachiru-chan dragging me off to make mischief as part of my duties for the Shinigami Women's Association.

As much as I loved pranks, I do have priorities and at the moment, learning my bankai by Toshiro's birthday was at the top of my to-do list. And I get reminded of that each time I see Toshiro. Which was far more often than I felt comfortable with. Toshiro-man, saying his name still felt kinda weird after so many months of 'Hitsugaya-taichou'-seemed to be always there whenever I practiced my Zanjutsu, even though I was no longer being taught by him. It wasn't that I didn't like him... Cuz I did. But his presence was annoying. I mean, its just like trying to prepare a surprise for someone while that certain someone insists on lingering around and watch you do it.

By the time it was less than three weeks left to his birthday, I made it a point to avoid him at all cost. I'd hide from his view whenever I saw him, and I guess I didn't do a very good job of it cuz there was once when Yachiru commented on how suspicious I seemed... And I think Toshiro got the wrong impression after awhile cuz each time I did meet him, he'd have this pissed-off expression. An expression I only saw on his face whenever he saw me. Or anyone who insults Hinamori-fukutaichou. Or Ichimaru Gin-which was getting rare cuz its been quite a while since I last saw him... I sometimes do wish that fox would stop making disappearing acts. When I was in Las Noche, he always seemed to be disappearing off to Soul Society. Now that I'm in Soul Society, he always seem to be disappearing off to Las Noche. Have I mentioned how irritating that is?

... Now wait a minute... what if he's constantly disappearing off to somewhere else just to annoy me?! Nah... I doubt he'd-well, there is a chance... Nevermind. I shouldn't be getting worked up over such a trivial matter... After all, that may be his aim and like hell I'll let myself achieve that aim of his. Besides, I have more pressing matters to worry about... Like Toshiro's prezzie.

I was seriously starting to consider Urahara's offer since I have, like, only three weeks left... If I were to take up his offer, I would be able to learn bankai (if I survived the process of it) in three days, then I'd have approximately two weeks to practice and experiment with it before presenting it to Toshiro. But the thing was, I could die. Urahara did say that the method was risky and potentially fatal... and what if I didn't manage to learn my bankai within the three days given to me? In the end, I decided that the best thing to do was to ask my friends about it. So I headed off to find Kenpachi and the rest of the division.

I found them hanging around the 11th division quarters which was where they'd usually be when we have nothing to do. Unless they decide to spar with one another. Then they'd usually be somewhere else around soul society, probably somewhere where there's more space to fight. They hailed me over when they say me and for a moment, they reminded me of a bunch of gangsters lounging about. I couldn't help but grin as I approached them.

"So, what's up?" Ikkaku asked. I was tempted to reply 'the sky', but didn't. Instead, I told him and the others (which consisted of Yachiru, Kenpachi, Ikkaku and a few of the other members. Who knows where the rest of the division is) my problem.

"Umm... I was just wondering, if there was a way to learn my bankai really quickly and in time for Hitsugaya-taichou's birthday... should I take it? It'd be like a shortcut of sorts." I left out the details, cuz I figured that since Urahara was once a shinigami in soul society, there might be a reason for him 'retiring'. And I wasn't about to mention his name, just in case. I had no idea if these guys approved of him or not.

"Well, why not?" said Kenpachi. "You're running out of time, y'know." The rest of them murmured their agreement.

"First of all, this shortcut is risky and may be fatal..." I trailed off as Kenpachi and the rest of them gave me weird looks.

"What is this method?" Yumichika asked. Crap. I had been hoping they wouldn't ask...

I recalled what I read in the note Urahara gave me (he left the note in my room one week after we first met. Which is kinda creepy, cuz it made him seem like a stalker of sorts and I have had enough of people stalking me already) and said, "It has something to do with getting the bankai from my zanpakuto's spirit. But in a more forceful way?" As before, I tried to be as vague as possible.

"And where did you get this idea from?" Kenpachi asked.

"Actually, I somewhat learnt my shikai from my swords, so it should be possible to do the same for my bankai? Except that my swords aren't really cooperating at the moment, so the only way to do this would be to force it out of them?" I said tentatively. Yes, I know I've started to cross the line between telling part-truths and lying outright, but I really didn't think telling them the real thing would be a good idea so...

"I guess you could try if you really want to..." Kenpachi said and someone else (sorry, I have yet to remember the names of all the members in the division) added, "But you should back out of it as soon as you encounter a life-and-death situation. It ain't worth it."

"Yeah. Normally, I'd say fight to the death... but this isn't actually a fight, is it?" Ikkaku said. "It's just a present. No need to die over a present."

"Shiro-chan wouldn't be happy if Cheshaa-chan died," Yachiru piped in.

"Hmm... Is it just me or does he seem more cold to you recently?" Yumichika asked.

"I think it's because I've been avoiding him?" I suggested. "And one more thing. The method I'm about to use... don't any of you feel like it's a form of cheating? Well, sort of..."

"You're risking your life using this method and you think it's a form of cheating?" Kenpachi groaned loudly. "Only you would think of it that way."

"Usually cheating means taking the easy way out right? So... sure, you might not take years to learn your bankai like you should, but the effort you're gonna have to put into learning it will be many times more than the normal way, right? So it should even it out," reasoned Yumichika.

"Fine, now I have only one problem left. In order for this thing to work, I'd have to do it for three days straight. Which means I'd have to miss school. And my kido lessons."

"I'm sure we'll manage to convince Byakushi and Hisa-Hisa to let you off for a few days," said Yachiru.

"When do your school holidays start?" asked Kenpachi.

"A few days before Hitsugaya-taichou's birthday, and using the method then may be a bit of a rush," I replied. And yes, I still refer to him as 'Hitsugaya-taichou' when I'm talking to other shinigami. It just seems more appropriate that way.

"Can't you just skip school for a few days?" Ikkaku asked. Typical him. But the idea is... tempting.

"I know!" Yachiru suddenly exclaimed. "We could get Byakushi or Yun-Yun to go to your school and give some excuse to get you out of school for a few days!"

"Well we are supposed to be your 'relatives'..." Yumichika began. "And as long as your school doesn't demand any official papers to certify that we're really related..."

"Nah, I doubt they will. And it is a good idea," I said as I clapped my hands gleefully. This might actually work! And I had the support of my division.

"Stop clapping... You're starting to remind me of a certain snake," Kenpachi said a little irritably. Several of the 11th Division members laughed.

"Alright! On with the plan!" yelled Yachiru. And all of us headed off to find Kuchiki-taichou.

...

I am glad to say that my sense of direction is still as good as ever despite spending so much time with Yachiru and Kenpachi. I managed to find Urahara's shop after three wrong turns, which is quite a miracle considering that I had only been there once. And that one time I went there, I had been dragged there and was too preoccupied with Urahara and his weirdness. Anyways, when I reached the shop, it was six o'clock in the morning (I left my apartment at five plus). The shop grounds were empty. The sun was still hidden behind some clouds and buildings. It was kinda peaceful and silent...

"OHAYOOO~ URAHARA-SAN~!" I yelled cheerfully at the top of my voice. Then I paused. Listened hard. There was silence and then... a crash. Then more silence. Then a yell.

"What the-?!" It was that boy. The one whom I saw sweeping outside the shop the last time I was here. He was poking his head out of the door of the shop with a pissed-off expression. When he saw me, he looked shocked for a moment.

"_What the hell_are you doing here at this time in the mor-"

"Why, if it isn't Yoruka-san~!" interrupted Urahara as he popped out behind the boy like some jack-in-the-box.

"You sound unnaturally cheerful for someone who has just been rudely woken up at six 'o clock on a saturday morning," I commented. I guess I should have expected this guy to be hard to surprise but... it would have been nicer if he had a greater reaction.

"You seem pretty energetic yourself," replied Urahara with a smile. "What have you come here for, Yoruka-san?"

I snorted, gave him a looong look, then I smiled as sweetly as possible. "_Well_, I was looking for a birthday prezzie for someone, and I need to have it ready in less than three weeks, and I just happened to chance upon your shop, you know. Do you think you have anything suitable?"

Urahara responded with a smile of his own, and though I couldn't tell what kind of smile it was, it seemed like the kind of smile that said, 'Excellent, I can't wait to see what happens." and somehow, it seemed kind of dark... Must be my imagination.

He brought me into his shop and led me to an underground place that was so huge, I could hardly believe he could actually built (there wasn't a doubt that he was the one who built the place, judging from the dramatic exclaimations he was making as he entered the place) something this huge under his shop.

"Urahara-san, stop being so ego-istic," I said when he seemed to have finished 'ooh-ing' and 'aah-ing' at his own handiwork. He managed to give me a sulky look without pouting like Aki-chan.

"But that's what you should have said when you entered this place," he protested. The 'what' was refering to the numerous 'Wow, this place is so huge!' and 'this is amazing' and other compliments. This guy... Why do I always seem to attract weird people like him?

"Yes, this place is cool, but that doesn't mean I have to express all my awe aloud and so dramatically... Unless you are in serious need of praise because you are actually a poor child with a deprived life," I replied irritably. "So let's get on with this thing."

Urahara gave me another mock-sullen look before surprising me with a jab in my forehead with his cane and throwing me out of my body. Then he asked me to wait... somewhere. So I just sat on a random rock while he disappeared and got a shock when he reappeared. Well, I wasn't really surprised by his reappearance, but when someone suddenly shoves a large strange white thing (that looks like a badly done paper doll) in your face and waves it around... My first instinct, when faced with an strange foreign irritant, is to eliminate it.

Without thinking, I stabbed the damn thing before Urahara could say anything. I should, of course, have waited for him to explain what the hell the thing was before randomly sticking my sword into it, because I didn't actually know what that thing is and attempting to destroy something I didn't know was probably bad idea... However, what happened next was so surprisingly... interesting that the risk was worth it.

"What the hell?!" yelled a girl with short black hair, silvery blue eyes and wearing a black kimono. She was waving a black sword at me. "A little more warning would have been nice!"

"Urahara, an explanation would be nice too," said a girl with long pale blonde hair, dark red eyes and wearing a white yukata. I stared at Kuroisei and Shiroifu standing before me. Then I stared at Urahara's frozen 'don't do anything yet!' face, which was quite comical especially since I already did something. He shouldn't have shoved that weird white thing in my face like that.

"Urahara-san, what is going on?" I asked him and waved my hand in front of his frozen face. He could of course, start by explaining what my swords were doing in the 'real world'.

"Well, I was going to explain how this works, but you went ahead and did the first step already... This," Urahara waved the strange white object again and I felt my face twitch with annoyance. "is a Tenshintai and when you stab it with your sword, it will force the Zanpakutō spirit to materialize. I will keep the spirit-in your case, spirits-materialized and you will have three days to force them into submission. Any longer than that is da-"

"SUBMISSION?!" interrupted Kuroisei with an enraged roar. "FORCE ME INTO SUBMISSION?!"

"This is definitely going to be interesting..." commented Shiroifu, sounding... amused. "Kuro-tan, calm down... I doubt anyone could force you into submission anyways. Perhaps we could play a game to test her."

"Uh... A game?" I asked. "Of...? And what for...?"

"Yes! That sounds nice. And it should work quite nicely too," Kuroisei replied, ignoring me and sounding somewhat less angry now.

"What kind of game?" I asked again and walked in the middle of them, making sure that I was in their way of conversation just in case they decide to continue ignoring me.

"A chess game, of course," Shiroifu said with her usual serene smile and Kuroisei added, "Western style."

Then the both of them sliced the air with the swords in a wide flourish and there was a ripple in the air before the ground beneath me shook. Wind blew fast and hard across the place and I had to shut my eyes and brace myself against the force of the wind. Holy crap, what the hell did they just do?

When I felt the wind die down, I opened my eyes. The first thing I noticed was that the ground around us had been... marked into sixty-four squares. Like a chess board except that the ground was brown, not black and white. Urahara looked just as surprised as I, so I assumed this wasn't what he had expected.

I also noticed that the 'chess board' or 'playing field' ended just in front of Urahara, who was standing two metres away from me, probably having shifted when the wind was blowing. We were standing at the edge of the room, which also meant that the 'chess board' covered most of the room's expanse.

Then to my horror, flickers of black and white appeared around Shiroifu and Kuroisei before materializing into what seemed like clones/copies of them. And all of them were grinning. Not the crazy 11th Division before-a-fight grin, but the smug grin of a cat facing a mouse. I was the mouse and it seemed like I had to face all seven copies of my swords, with my swords as the 'king' and 'queen'. In other words, it was me against sixteen sword spirits. And I didn't even have my own sword to fight them with since they're... Well, my swords. I was only armed with my Arrancar sword, just like how it was in my inner world, except that I was still dressed in shinigami student garb and had no broken mask/horn/hair accessory on my head.

Oh. And how the hell is this like a chess game in any way?

...

Four hours after the 'game' started, I wasn't any much closer to ending it. I had only 'killed' one of the sword spirit copies who shattered into many fragments and disintegrated into glittering dust when I succeeded in stabbing it through the heart, which, incidentally, seemed like the only way to defeat it. I had attempted to kill it as soon as I managed to get my sword to touch it (which was no easy feat, but each time I struck it, it healed itself. Cut off an arm, regrow an arm. Stab through the stomach, blood spurts, wound closes, cloth mends.

Three hours later, I succeeded in 'killing' the second 'pawn'. Defeating copies of my swords was harder than I expected. Not only were they as good as my original swords at zanjutsu, they were fighting me with a strange combination of order and chaos. Firstly, we were only limited to fight within an area of nine squares (each square approximately two meter square large). We weren't really following normal chess rules, as landing on a square that belongs to another does not automatically mean killing off another opponent. We had to fight each other and compete for the space in the square and since we evidently couldn't fight properly in just one square, we extended the fighting arena to nine squares. Secondly, if these nine squares included squares occupied by other sword copies, the other sword copies could join in the fight as long as they did not take a step out of their squares. This also means that I was occasionally fighting three sword copies at one go. Once I 'killed' the sword copy whose square I was competing for, the fight would stop and my swords would make their next chess move or step with their chosen 'piece'.

Two hours later, I killed my third 'pawn' and found that a stab through the heart was indeed the only way I could kill a sword copy. I had gotten extremely annoyed and a negative value of patience, when I stabbed the sword copy through its throat so hard that it got beheaded. Or it would have had it been an actual spirit and not a copy for the 'game'. Instead, there was a large spray of blood that momentarily obstructed my view of the 'pawn's head and shoulders. When the blood splattered to the ground, it's head was still upon it's shoulders, neck perfectly fine without a single wound mark. The only thing such a blow does is slow down it's movement by a bit.

Another two hours later, I managed to 'kill' a fourth 'pawn' and found that even though I sometimes ended up fighting against three 'pieces' at once, it wasn't possible to 'kill' any 'piece' other than the one whose square I was challenging. The other 'pieces' would simply get injured, automatically heal regardless of the wound, and simply be slightly slower for future fights with it.

Five hours later, I 'killed' another two 'pawns' and my first 'knight'. The 'knight' was harder to kill than the 'pawns' for sone reason or other. I mean, it makes sense that a knight is stronger than a pawn, but if the both of them were copies of my zanpakuto, then shouldn't they be of the same strength?... Unless their reiatsu were distributed differently amongst the copies... After all, I could somehow feel which of them are my original swords even without looking at which square they are standing in, because their 'aura' somehow seemed stronger than the rest. After that, Urahara, put the 'game' on hold as it was night and time to were two 'pawns', one 'knight', two 'bishops', two 'rooks' and my original sword spirits, the 'king' and 'queen', left but they disappeared as soon as Urahara released them from the physical world.

I was famished and when I returned to my body, I was served dinner at Urahara's place. I had seconds. I also wondered who prepared the food because they tasted really good and I couldn't imagine Urahara cooking for some reason or other. Dinner was actually kinda funny, since I was eating more than anyone else, the boy whose name I learned was Jinta kept glaring at me, Urahara was cheerful as always, while his assistant and Ururu (the girl I saw with Jinta) were quite... Stoic. Like statues. Eating statues.

"Well, I think that went quite well," Uruhara said after dinner. I stared at him.

"Dinner? Or my bankai training?" I asked.

"Both! I think you might be able to achieve your bankai in two day's time," he replied with a grin. Was he kidding me? I had barely made it through today! Not that I'm saying I won't be able to get my bankai in time. It's just that it seemed so ridiculously hard now. The training, the 'chess game' didn't even make sense. I knew I was supposed to learn some concept or something that will help me earn my swords' bankai during the 'game', but I couldn't see how. All I was doing was fight like an eleventh division berserker.

"You managed to defeat almost half of your swords' little army in one day, didn't you?" Urahara reminded me when he saw me give him an incredulous look. Well yes, he was right, but I only managed to defeat a whole lot of pawns, which were probably the easiest to get rid of. Wait, why was I being so negative? To hell with it, bankai training's supposed to be hard anyways.

"I'm going to sleep," I announced with a yawn. "Let's start tomorrow's training at six o' clock."

Urahara laughed and left me in the guest room. Well, that was one day gone. Two more days to go.

* * *

**That's all for now. Will try my very best to update soon. like in... one week or two? Please review~**


	21. Chapter 21: Final Release

**Here's the next chapter ^_^ the problem is, I tried to make this chapter more interesting... but I think I may have overdone it. after finishing it and reading it over, I almost felt like scraping it and redo-ing it. I just hope it isn't as bad as I think it is. And in reply to the guest reviewer, well, maybe Chizuki is a bit strong... She's my OC and I may have accidentally mary-sued her while creating and developing her... I hope I didn't. Well, after her bankai, other than mastering the techniques she already know, I don't think she can get any more powerful. I'm definitely not going to fullbring-ify her or quincify her or anything... Oh, and before I forget, thanks a lot for those who have reviewed and following my story even though I take ages to update. ****_Arigato gozaimasu._**

**Disclaimer: Read the previous chapters if you really want one.**

* * *

Chapter 21: Final Release

_"If at first you don't succeed, so much for skydiving."_

It was the third day of my bankai training. Urahara had been wrong about me achieving bankai in two days. The day before, I had succeeded in defeating all the sword clones. Now, all I had to do was to defeat Kuroisei and Shiroifu. As they were standing in adjacent squares, still in their 'royal positions' in the middle of the last line, it did not really matter which square I moved into next, though I was apparently limited to the steps of a 'pawn'.

I moved one square forward. Now I was standing in the empty front line of my swords' 'army', directly in front of Kuroisei. It was my sword's turn. Shiroifu could either choose to move diagonally to greet me as the 'Queen', or Kuroisei could just move forward into my square as the 'King'. Or, they could also just attack me from where they stood, which wouldn't be hard, since the swords they used could serve as long-ranged weapons as well as short-ranged weapons.

We stood there facing one another for a moment while I wondered who would make the first move. I had a feeling the 'stronger' one would go last, but who was stronger? The Queen or the King? The Queen was more mobile, as she could move both horizontally and diagonally, for as many squares as she liked. The King, however, could only take one step at a time in any direction, but he was more important: King dies, game over.

As expected, Shiroifu made the first move. She stepped into my square, swing her sword as she did so. The problem about fighting my own swords, was that it was unfair. I was using my Arrancar blade, something I only had experience with for a little more than two days (the past two days plus the time I spent in my inner world) against my own swords which were armed with manifestations of themselves.

Know thyself, is what the wise say. Well, my sword definitely know their weapons since they are their weapons. And I should know mine too, since the Arrancar blade is, technically, a sealed manifestation of my hollow self. Some say that it is a part of our broken masks, and a hollow's mask is supposedly a part of its missing heart. However, I knew nothing of the sword even though it should be a part of me. As I have mentioned before, I don't even know how to release the damned blade and get into my resurreccion form! And I was an Espada!

"Precisely," Shiroifu said as our blades met with a resounding ring that hummed through our swords. My other disadvantage? My swords often knew exactly what I was thinking. I tried to block them out sometimes, but it was only really successful on the 'pawns'. And I couldn't get into the minds of my swords either.

"Precisely what?" I asked irritably, hoping she wouldn't give me some sort of cryptic answer. She smirked as we leapt away from each other.

"You don't know your heart, and you expect to know your soul?" Kuroisei said. She was still standing there, seeming not to bother joining in the fight. Probably saving the fight for later... If I managed to defeat Shiroifu first.

"My _soul_?"

"Yes. We are also a part of you now, you know. Your soul, in fact," said Shiroifu, to which Kuroisei added, "As an Arrancar and Espada, it is only natural for you to be able to release your sword and enter your resurreccion state. If you can't even do that, don't think about learning bankai."

... The hell?! Well, that certainly clears things up... I think. So they want me to find my resurreccion before teaching me bankai? I'm screwed.

True enough, one hour later, I had a numb shoulder, a not-quite-working leg, an a headache. All aftereffects of my swords' attacks. It was only one hour! One hour, and I was using my left hand to hold my sword, while awkwardly escaping attacks with a limp. Seriously, why do I have to be the unlucky one who had a hollow form to complete before achieving the final release of a shinigami technique? The whole bloody irony of it.

Slash across the chest. Get blocked. Dodge a strike at the legs. Trip. Nearly get beheaded. Roll away. Stab at the stomach. Get countered. Random black blade comes into view. Runs away from black shadow. Dodge a cold white beam of light. Slash at her arm. Miss. Trip. Nearly get beheaded again...

And so it continued... It wasn't those kind of fight, where the two combatants are panting heavily, having cuts all over and torn clothes. That's sometimes the kind of fight I had with Kenpachi when we spar. Not the kind of fights I have with my swords. I was actually quite surprised I've held out this long, or maybe my swords are just holding back? I was panting, with tears in my clothes, a few cuts (attacks from my swords are, fortunately/unfortunately, usually not fully physical) while my swords were swinging their swords with ease, not a single drop of sweat on their faces. It was the kind of fight I sometimes had with Grimmjow or my fraccions... With roles reversed.

Two hours later, yes, I managed to survive two hours, I found out what would happen when I don't survive the next minute. It was a question I had been wondering for some time: what would happen if I don't manage to block a critical attack? What if Shiroifu freezes my heart with Samui Iki? What if I really do get beheaded or something? Or will my swords stop their attacks in time, like a blade to my throat? What happens then?

What happens, as I found out then, was that my swords have no mercy. Shiroifu stabbed me through my chest with the white shimmering blade of Samui Iki, and a sudden silence reverberated through me, louder than any sound. I don't know, I must have been semi-unconscious by then, I think I fell. I didn't hear nor feel it though. I couldn't hear nor feel anything... Not even my heartbeat.

...

_White. Everything was white. The air was cold and I could almost smell and taste it's iciness. What was going on? I couldn't be dead. Otherwise, there'd be nothing at all, right? I'd have no more awareness, right? So I wasn't dead. Nor yet. But if I wasn't dead, then what was I? Dreaming? No, couldn't be. _

_There it is. Something in the white. A shadow. Patterns. Texture. I wasn't staring at nothing as I had thought. I was staring at snow. I got up, and found it surprisingly easy, as if I hadn't just been in a fight. I looked around. I was in... A desert? I looked down again. Not snow. Cold sand in moonlight._

_It was night. The sky was as black as the sand and full moon was white. Around me was miles and miles of empty desert wasteland with trees, some black and withered, some bone white and skeletal, scattered sparsely here and there. Why did this seem vaguely familiar? _

_A voice. I recognized it. I stood and walked towards it. Now I seem them. Why didn't I see them just now? Three white figures in the dark, one strolling towards the other two in a distance. The one further away looked familiar: he had bright blue hair, feline eyes, a skeletal quarter-mask on his face. He was wearing a uniform that I also found familiar. Grimmjow? _

_I was standing behind a tree, watching them. I didn't recognize the one's nearer to me. They weren't human nor humanoid. The both of them were all white and skeletal, like many of the things around here were. One of them resembled a lobster with one claw missing and a broken tail, while the other resembled... A small dragon. But not really a dragon. More like a serpent with wings._

_The creature was long, longer than a western dragon, but shorter than an oriental one. It had a longish neck, like a horse, a slim and lithe body that's slightly longer than its neck, and an even longer tail, more than twice the length of it's head, neck and body put together. It had three pairs of wings that were flat, like a sheet of bone, long and oblong in shape with tapered ends, like the wings of an insect, though broken. In fact, it was the wings that made me realize that it was as much a dragon as it was a bug. Despite the fact that it clearly had only two pairs of clawed feet, an extra pair of wings, and a reptilian body, the shape of the wings were unmistakeable. Everyone who knew my hollow form were wrong. There was only one creature I knew with such odd-shaped wings and its names came to my mind, even though I was sure I don't remember learning it before. Libelula. The dragonfly. Caballito del diablo. The Devil Horse._

_One moment later, the lobster vasto lorde's remaining claw came crashing down onto me... Well, the other me. The other me wasn't able to dodge it, though she/I/it attempted to counter it with a cero. When the blast cleared, the other me was lying on the ground with one horn gone, a cracked face, missing two wings, and half-conscious. The other injured hollow was retreating fast. By the time Grimmjow strolled towards the other me, the vasto lorde was gone. _

_Grimmjow said something I couldn't hear, for a fierce wind howled past then, but it didn't matter. I heard what he said the first time anyways, and still remember it._ _The unnatural wind blew up a white sandstorm that obscured my view of my other self and the memory Grimmjow_, and I think I must have slipped out of consciousness then, because the next thing I knew, I was back in Urahara's underground place, apparently still standing, with Shiroifu's sword at my chest, and Kuroisei's sword at my throat. Not more than a second seemed to have passed since I lost consciousness.

I don't know what that was supposed to be. It seemed like a memory, but not quite, since a memory should involve me experiencing that again myself right? Instead of watching on as a third person or something. And where had it come from anyways? Shiroifu? Kuroisei? A combination of both? Or was it just me? Or an indirect result of... I don't know, near-death experience? Which reminded me, I could feel my heart beat again.

"Uh... What's going on?" I asked as I stared at my swords. Shiroifu tilted her head to one side as she regarded me.

"Well, I've unfrozen you. You're still alive despite the fact that your heart probably missed one or two beats. Kuroisei reckons you should be given another chance because it's one of you against the sixteen of us and you have managed to defeat our fourteen copies already."

"You know, I still can't believe how kind and merciful I am!" remarked Kuroisei with a face of mock surprise.

"Humility, my dear Kuro-tan," Shiroifu said in response. Right.

"So... What happens now?" I asked.

"We have a rematch, of course," Shiroifu replied. "Are you ready?"

"Doesn't matter if I am, does it? You'll just start regardless, wouldn't you?" I said wryly.

"Hmph, that I would," Shiroifu agreed. She then swung her sword in a lazy arc and rested it's blunt edge on her shoulder. She paused in that position for half-a-second longer, then leapt forward.

Surprisingly, I still had enough strength to evade her attack. I also found that my right shoulder was no longer numb, which meant that I had regained the use of my right arm again. My headache was gone, and my leg felt less out-of-sorts. The cuts I sustained from the earlier fight were still there, but easily ignored.

I knew I would soon run low on energy, which meant that now would be a good time to gain more reiatsu. As I had already released my reiatsu to the max in the earlier fight, the only way to increase it further would be to release my hollow self. It occurred to me then, that not only did I not know how to do a resurreccion, I didn't know how to get back into my Arrancar form either. However, as soon as that thought took form, I realized had a feeling that I actually knew how to do so.

Instinctively, I closed my eyes as I dodged another of Shiroifu's attacks. Everything seemed to move in slow motion then, and then, there was a feeling of a stretched rubber band snapping, and a coil of energy seemed to be suddenly released within me as time and motion righted itself.

I felt a weight on my head. I did not have to reach out a hand to feel it to know that my hollow-horn-hair-clip/accessory was there. I could also feel other differences on me, like the changes in the feel and weight of my clothes, and the strangely comfortable yet hollow feeling of the hole just below my collarbone.

"Have I ever told you that you look better with your hair short?" Kuroisei commented then. I blinked at her in surprise, then I realized that I could no longer feel the rubber band tying my hair nor the weight of my long hair.

"I think she looks better with long hair, actually," Shiroifu said, momentarily distracted from the fight, which was fine by me. I noticed that she had long hair while Kuroisei had short hair. Ironically, it is Shiroifu's clothes that resemble the clothes of an Arrancar while Kuroisei's clothes resemble that of a shinigami.

Taking the short opportunity of their argument over my hair length, I thought hard about my resurreccion. I hadn't ever used it before, because I never had to, and whenever I thought about, I realized I didn't know how to do it. I wonder if it was because I never truly knew what I was as a hollow. Even now, I still wasn't sure what kind of animal I was... some sort of dragon-dragonfly hybrid. But at least I now knew what I really looked like when I was an adjucha. At least I knew that I was a strange hybrid of animals. At least I knew what creatures contributed to my hollow features and appearance. I hope that's good enough.

I stared at my sword and examined it. It was a gigantic white kunai, even bigger than my shinigami zanpakuto in it's sealed form, with a bandaged hilt and a hole in its pommel. The blade was smooth, but I noticed that the ring of the pommel surrounding the hole was decorated. A carving of a horned skull was done in the bone white pommel, with the upper jaw of the skull above the hole, the lower jaw below the hole-nearer the hilt, and the hole in the pommel was like its opened mouth. A hollow sword it was indeed. And it was my hollow sword, the sealed form of my original hollow form.

"_Caballito del Diablo_," I muttered. Spanish for dragonfly or devil horse. That was the name of the sword. "_Resurreccion_."

The effect was instantaneous, and the transformation was as effortless and instinctive as it should be. After my second change, I analyzed myself again. A pair of skeletal wings that resemble a dragonfly's sprouted from my shoulder blades, a pair of dragon horns attached to my head in the form of hair accessories as before, claws extend from the top/back of my skeletal gauntlets, spikes extend from the back of my boots-the calves-which have grown harder and fitting... Oh, and it appears that my white jacket has been torn apart by that pair of wings, and I think there must be two long tears in the back of my black top. Where the wings have burst out from. Anything else? No. Thank goodness. I still remembered Nnoitra's resurreccion which included an extra pair of arms. Creepy.

"Well, I think you look nicer in black," said Kuroisei when she saw my resurreccion form. Shiroifu promptly whacked her on the head with the flat of her blade.

"Ow, what was that for?!" exclaimed the black-haired tomboy.

"Being an idiot, as always," retorted Shiroifu and advanced on me. "So, you've finally managed to achieve resurreccion. Congratulations. Let's begin again, shall we?"

And so our fight resumed. Like all hollow attacks, my resurreccion ones were instinctual. Cero, check. Hierro, check. Sonido, check. Utsusemi: Sonido-style, check. Last but not least, I had gained a lovely weapon called Cuchillo de la Libelula (A/N: Spanish for Dragonfly Knife).

My sword had transformed when I did, and it now took the form of a giant shuriken attached to a looong chain, each blade the length of my arm. The shuriken resembled a giant quadruple-bladed knife, like four kunais fused together at the pommel. The shuriken, when thrown, can leave behind energy afterimages of it, like clones made of energy. These afterimages follow the path of the real shuriken in a trail of energy so even if the real shuriken misses, one of them is bound to hit my target. When the energy copies hit something, be it the target or when dispelled by a sword, it explodes in a starburst of light. It was quite a sight, several giant blazing shurikens in the air, resembling white dragonflies in flight (the wings formed by the silhouette of the four points of the shuriken, the tail formed by the silhouette of the chain attached).

"Artistic!" I yelled delightedly, when another of my attacks exploded. Meanwhile, Shiroifu and Kuroisei displayed amazing gymnastic and acrobatic feats and fast speed while dodging my attacks and delivering their own blows. Their ability at dodging and dispelling my attacks were irritating, but cool.

For another hour or two, we kept dodging and dispelling each other's attacks. My energy ones could be dispelled by a slash of sufficient energy or energy-infused blade through it's center while Shiroifu's Winter Breath attacks could be dispelled-as I had learned one rook, one knight and one bishop ago-by delivering a blow of sufficient energy to the start of the blade, where the blade and hilt connected.

The fight was a flurry of movement and flashes of light. Not much time is spared for thinking, everything based on instinct and intuition. Kuroisei, who apparently, hadn't been intending to join the fight, got involved because of the wildness of my attacks. Then, it happened so fast, I could scarcely follow it. Just as Shiroifu dodged my shuriken, and Kuroisei was busy dispelling an energy one, one of my other energy shurikens flew past and struck Shiroifu's sword. I couldn't quite tell if it was the cross-guard, the start of the blade, or the end of the hilt that got hit, but Shiroifu staggered backwards and dropped her weapon with a gasp.

The white sword fell from her hand and disappeared in mid-air, winking out of sight as if it had been an illusion, though I knew it wasn't. I was in front of her before I even registered what had happened and thought about what I was going to do. I caught the shuriken that had come soaring back to me, and pointed one of it's blades at Shiroifu's throat.

"This counts as a win, right?" I asked. Her shocked expression cleared and she laughed.

"Yes, of course," she replied. Kuroisei snorted for some reason or another.

"What? Don't like the possibility of losing?" I said to her. Kuroisei simply grinned.

"Who does? But it's not that," she said and for some reason, I found that smile of hers very suspicious at that moment.

"Then what is it?"

"You see, for the finale, to prove yourself worthy of our bankai... Well, you'll have to defeat us together."

Wait. Wait. _Wait a minute_. Oh no. _Two_ of them? At _one_go? Not just Shiroifu, but Kuroisei joining it whole-heartedly? This... sucks.

...

It started out like the fight with Shiroifu, except that Kuroisei was the one leading the attacks. Her attacks were similar yet different from Shiroifu's which forced me to execute gymnastic feats and stunts that I have seen Shiroifu do but never thought I could do until then. At least the method of returning her shadow blade into it's original form was the same as with Shiroifu.

After resorting to all the tricks I could think of-tripping them with the chain of my weapon, traditional shuriken-throwing, battle-hammer/flail/meteor style, holding the hilt of one blade and using the other three as a triple-bladed sword etc-I started to feel my reiatsu really drop. It had replenished itself when I transformed into my Arrancar form, and increased when I entered resurreccion, but my swords never seem to tire. I swear, if they were shinigami, they'd be made captains in a few months, or at least lieutenants.

"Is that all you've got?" demanded Kuroisei when she noticed my attacks getting slower. She suddenly reminded me of Kenpachi.

I thought about her question, and racked my mind for any more ideas of attacks besides cero and using my shuriken. None came to mind, and just as I was about to concede that perhaps, I was done for, something made me rethink. It wasn't much, just a nagging feeling that saying yes to her question would be a lie. But for the life of me, I couldn't think of what it was that I had missed.

For another two hours, we battled on and I got increasingly... Twitchy. I think I must have fallen for the third feint by the time I felt this random uncontrollable urge to fly. Now the thing is, the pair of wings on my back had a total wingspan of approx one-and-a-half meters, and were strong enough to lift me higher off the ground when I jump, but weren't strong enough to actually help me stay off the ground for a length of time.

For one ridiculous moment, amidst all the fighting, the tune of 'I Believe I Can Fly' started playing in my head. I got distracted, and a solid black blade sliced past me. I dodged, thinking, 'I very nearly lost an arm!' and before I knew it, in my momentary shock, I had leapt into the air, dodged a few more sword slashes and... Well, let's just say it was a fight or flight situation... Literally.

I don't really know what happened, just that the irritatingly suppressed energy I felt released itself. And then I was flying. Not in the Peter Pan way. And not the spirit-particles-manipulation-stepping-on-air way either. I felt a strong tremor run down my back, but it was a natural rhythm, like the beat of my heart. A soft humming could be heard, a little similar to the sound of a sonido. I didn't have to look over my shoulder to know that I had grown another two pairs of wings. I could feel them, the way one can naturally feel one's own arms.

All three pairs of wings were in the shape of a dragonfly's wings, but with a sharp edge, like blades. The second and third pair of wings were longer than the first, with the second pair having a total wingspan of approx two meters, and the third pair having a wingspan between that of the first and second pair. The second pair was also broader than the first, and the third was the broadest.

"So, the nymph has molted into an adult, eh?" commented Kuroisei. "Wanna pause the fight? I think you should have a good look at yourself. Hey! Kisuke! Do you have a mirror?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Shiroifu snapped before Urahara could answer. Uh... What? I quickly noted other changes: the horns have gotten shorter and narrower, more female-goat-ish. I've got... A tail?! My tail was skeletal-ish, almost as long as I am tall, and had a pointed-clubbed end (teardrop shaped with point facing outwards?) Anymore changes? No. Other than the color of my wings, horns, gauntlet, and tail. All of the above should be bone white. But no, my horns were black (according to Kuroisei, who was delighted), my wings were light-turquoise-stain-glass-ish (in other words, translucent for some strange reason or other, and as Shiroifu commented, looking very breakable), my gauntlets were black like my boots and horns, and my tail was err... Sky blue.

"You're colorful! Did you know you have this skeletal armor plate thingie on your back, where your wings connect?" exclaimed Kuroisei, and yes, I was aware that I had gotten a new green choker that connected to something on my back. "It's apple green and _shiny_."

"Everything is shiny... Her wings, her horns, her gauntlets, boots, tail are all shiny!" said Shiroifu exasperatedly. "Now can we get on with it? You can admire her all you like later."

"I think... I'm getting quite weirded out..." I muttered to no one in particular. Too many changes in one day. And then there was Kuroisei who seemed obsessed over my appearance.

"Hey! If she's gonna be our mistress, she might as well look good, you know. Appearances are important, Shiroi-chan," Kuroisei protested, then gave me an evil eye. "And I am not weird."

Riiight. So are they gonna continue arguing over this? On one hand, I'm getting a nice rest here. On the other hand, I want to finish this as fast as possible... And why not?

Shuriken released. She dodged. Gets hit by the shuriken's energy copy. She curses loudly. Accidentally cuts Shiroifu's mist blade with my wings and trips her over with my tail while trying to shake off the numbness spreading through one of my wings (I swear it was an accident... I don't seem to have much control over all these extra body parts yet). And the fight resumed after I used up my 'element of surprise'.

Flying wasn't an easy thing. Yes, the beating of my wings felt as natural and effortless as breathing, but I couldn't quite get the hang of... Directions. And I couldn't quite focus on flying and defending and attacking at the same time. There was also the danger of getting hit by my own shuriken now that I was in the air-something I wasn't used to. Then there was that one wing that was half-numb from accidentally flying too close to Shiroifu's blade. Oh yeah, the other thing about having wings? They're so big (they have to be, in order to lift me) that I needed a hell lot of time to adjust my sense of space.

So there was I, whizzing here and there, trying out different angles of holding out the wings, tilting or tipping them this way and that to see how that changes my flight, adjusting the way my body moved or how I use (or not use) my legs in the air... While dodging dangerous black and white rays of light and shadow. In some ways, the unpredictable nature of my flight helped scramble up my sword's attacks, although it led me into some usually avoidable accidents too. At least I haven't flown into a wall yet.

Approximately three hours later, I finally got used to flying and found that being able to take off into the air quite useful. My swords good jump really high into the air, and stay quite long in the air too, but they can't fly. So it is easier to dodge their attacks when I'm near the ceiling. Unfortunately, their attacks are usually long-ranged ones. And Kuroisei's attacks used shadows. Apparently, her attacks don't work as well when my shadow is very light, which happens when I'm high up, but that also means that my shadow is bigger. I suppose I can't always have my way.

The day was ending. I didn't need a clock to know that I only had a couple more hours to finish this. Now would be a good time to figure out what they want from me, I told my brain. After all, they always seemed have conditions they want me to fulfill before teaching me a new technique. So what did they want this time? I bet I was supposed to figure that out while defeating them.

They. What did they want this time. Finale. Defeat. Them. Together. Together. Their. Bankai. Singular bankai. Was this what this is all about? It's just a guess. I really didn't know what they wanted me to do other than to defeat them. They didn't actually say what counts as a defeat either. And I now realize that they didn't actually say that they'd teach me their bankai if I managed to 'win' this 'game'. But maybe the only way to defeat them together and gain their bankai is to... Well, imagine them as one entity and defeat them as such? Not one person/spirit/zanpakuto, but two combined into one?

I quickly banished the random two-in-one sales idea before it distracted me, and focused on the two of them. They were smirking. As if they somehow, once again, knew what I was thinking. I could only hope that their smirks meant that I had gotten it right. Here goes nothing.

I angled my wings slightly towards the back, tipped my body forward and spiraled down to my swords, shuriken in hand, dodging shooting extendable blades as I went. They were quite a team. Their actions and moves complement each other perfectly, one flowing into the other. Black and white melding into gray. Gray, a seemingly simple, soft, average but dangerous color. That's what they were. And I was proud to say that they were mine.

I released my shuriken as I neared them, and let it deflect anymore oncoming attacks, clearing my way to them. They were swift, but by the time they dispelled my energy shurikens, I was behind them. My shuriken came back to me as it always does, and as the center ring of the shuriken touched the fingers of my outstretched hand, the chain fastened to the ring followed. As tricks went, this was quite 'lame' but surprisingly effective.

I transferred the shuriken from my left hand to my right hand, where I still held on to the end of the chain. Shiroifu and Kuroisei, who were fighting so close to each other earlier, naturally got caught by the chain looped that was formed by the shuriken's movement and direction. Of course, my swords automatically jumped out of the tightening loop before they got fully trapped. Because of their perfect timing and teamwork, nobody tripped over nobody, and they still managed to whip their swords at me one after another.

I dodged Shiroifu's blade, while running as far as I could go. Then I realized that I no longer felt a compulsion to stop when I reached the edge of the nine squares we were allowed to fight in. Did the nine-square rule dissolve in the final fight? Why didn't anyone tell me?! I could have saved a lot of effort and trouble trying to fly! Ah, never mind, not that it matters now.

I ran along the edge of the 'chess board' and stopped when Shiroifu retracted her blade (which she had to, because it would easier to shoot the blade at me again instead of making the blade stretch while chasing me. **A/N: imagine a semicircle. It'd be faster and easier travelling along the diameter than the circumference, right?**), Kuroisei released her shadow blade. As she had explained to me before, one of the only problem about her/her sword is that the blade's shadow could only move forward in one direction once released, so it was easy to dodge. So I kept dodging Shiroifu's blade, then Kuroisei's, and as this repeated, the timing between their attacks shortened until their attacks were almost simultaneous.

Focus. _Focus_. My imagination took over and what I saw was a ridiculous blurry silver creature with a sword in each hand, shooting out black and white rays at the same time. Right. Focus. What was wrong with my head today? My mind's like scrambled eggs.

My swords advanced upon me as they continued their attacks, slowly trapping me as they make use of their attacks to influence the direction I run. The good thing about them attacking at the same time? The breaks between their attacks were at the sane time too. Taking the opportunity, I used utsusemi with sonido when they were close enough to me, charged at them, used utsusemi again, changed direction, and continued in an irregular zigzag manner until I was between them.

I used my shuriken to dispel their latest attack, and during their momentary pause, I had one chance to beat them. Miss it and I was dead meat, since I was already so close to them. Any attack from them at this point blank range would be fatal, unless they were feeling merciful. My shuriken came back to me in a flash, and instead of catching it in my hand, I jumped, using my forewings to lift me higher, letting the shuriken pass underneath me and hit their already oncoming blades at their hilts. There was an unexpected (okay, maybe I should have expected it, but I didn't, due to my brain focusing on 'now' 'now' 'now' as there was not much time to think about 'later') explosion that lifted me even higher into the air and made Shiroifu and Kuroisei stagger and trip backwards while letting go of the hilts of their swords. They were too good to get really blown away.

Second use of element of surprise. Except that I had been surprised too, and thankfully, my brain was in 'now'-mode and I instinctively angled my wings so that there was no more air resistance and I fell into the finishing explosion. All of this happened in about a second, so fast that I didn't have time to consider consequences or results. I stretched out both my hands and caught two flying objects. Longish and hard. Hilts of two swords. Well, not really.

Less than a second later, I was cursing out loud as the smoke cleared and my swords came into view. I stopped cursing long enough to ask them if disarming them was consider a win.

"Yes, I suppose," Kuroisei said. Both Shiroifu and she had poker-faces on. I glared at them, although my reckless stupidity wasn't their fault. Finally, Shiroifu sighed, but not before I saw her eyes laugh even though her mouth didn't.

"You're a mess, Chizuki," she said. Right, as if I didn't know. My clothes were half-singed and slightly tattered, partially because of the fight, and partially because of the explosion I jumped into. My hair was sticking up everywhere, some ends singed too. I had cuts almost everywhere. And then there was my hands. Thank goodness I had skeletal gauntlets protecting them, or I'd be bleeding even more profusely. Who knew Shiroifu's blade was this sharp. Who knew my catching skills would be so bad that I caught the damn sword by the blade instead of the hilt.

"Well? Do I finally get to know your bankai?" I asked irritably.

"Hey, you won. Shouldn't you be happier?" Kuroisei said as a grin broke across her originally forced-blank face. "Like, you know, do some handstands and cartwheels or maybe pirouettes?"

"I'll tell you the name of our bankai. As for how to use it properly, you'll have to figure that out yourself. It's a combination of both our attacks." Shiroifu cut in before I could form a retort.

"It's a very nice name, you know," added Kuroisei. "I was all for calling it Blackie And Whitie but Shiroi-chan-"

"-Had more sense than the regular idiot. It's _Suigin no Hiko_. Flight of Quicksilver," Shiroifu finished for her. "We're done here, Urahara."

Urahara looked somewhat amused. I wasn't surprised: he had many things he could be amused about, from my appearance, to my swords' conversations... And shinigamis tend to be amused for unknown reasons anyways. Exceptions to the rule: Yamamoto, Kuchiki, Toshiro... Tousen? Etc.

"Wait," I said, just as Urahara was about to let my swords return to their uh... sword form. "Just wondering, does anyone know why I didn't immediately grow three pairs of wings and stuff when I entered resurreccion?"

"How would we know? That's an Arrancar thing. Not a shinigami thing. But as Kuro-tan said earlier, it seemed like you molted from nymph to adult," Shiroifu replied.

"I think your body just got it's shinigami and Arrancar stuff mixed up," Kuroisei said. "So it's now got an initial and final resurreccion? Like shikai and bankai?"

They offered no other helpful suggestions and returned to their sword form and I returned to my shinigami student form. Urahara kept away the strange white doll thingie, before throwing his arms in the air.

"Hooray, you've finally achieved bankai!" he yelled. His excitement was... Well, Urahara-ish. I have no other description for it.

"So, how much do I have to pay for this?" I asked, interrupting his little celebration-of-sorts. He stopped 'dancing' at once.

"What?"

"I said, how much do I have to pay for this bankai trai-"

"Pay?" He looked bewildered.

"Yes, pay. You know what 'pay' means, don't you?" I said, irritableness coming back to me again. Then I frowned when I say his face. It was obviously an evil I-didn't-expect-you-to-pay-but-now-that-you're-offering-I-might-as-well-take-advantage-of-it face. Damn. I should have just kept my mouth shut... Though I guess I owe him one for helping me.

"How about working for me?" Urahara suggested cheerfully. Huh? Work? For him?

"What kind of work?" I asked warily.

"Oh it depends. You can help Jinta and Ururu with the housework, and you can help with the sales of the store, and you can keep me updated on the happenings in the other worlds," Urahara said with much enthusiasm. I thought about it. It didn't sound too bad.

"Okay, but I'll only drop by the shop when I have the time. I still have school and kido training, although the school hols are coming," I said. He looked amused and surprised. What now?

"Oh. You're actually agreeing?"

I sighed. Honestly. Don't tell me he was kidding around again.

"Well, if you weren't serious about it, then forget it. Forget that I wanted to repay the favor. I shall just be on my way and-" I said casually as I made my way out.

"Wait!" I was already at the entrance/exit of the underground place when he shouted. I turned around to see him running towards me, waving his cane in the air with the expression of a carefree bunny on his face. You know, with those imaginary pink fluffy flowers appearing in the background?

"You're no fun to tease," he protested when he caught up. I almost laughed.

"I need to go. I've got three day's worth of homework to catch up on. I'll be back this Saturday," I said instead.

"You're coming again on Saturday? To work?" he asked. He sounded surprised. Again.

"No, I'm coming to bully Jinta, play with Ururu, steal a faux body and shoplift some other shinigami stuff. And kill you of course," I deadpanned. There was a short silence which I broke, "You're actually quite fun to tease, Urahara-san."

"Ehh?" he protested again in a whining voice. He really reminded me of Akirai then. Now I laughed, and we returned to the ground above together.

When I walked out of the shop, it was evening and near dinner time. The first thing I did was to call Hana-chan to ask her about homework. Then I made a trip to my apartment to check for mail and homework. Then I made a trip to Aki-chan's house to pick up the rest of my homework. Then I found Kuchiki waiting for me back at my apartment, and he raised an eyebrow at my appearance (I bet I looked like a student whose chemistry experiment had gone wrong) but made no comment. He brought me back to soul society. After thanking him, I immediately ran off to find my division to tell them the good news.

Suigin no Hiko, eh? Not bad. Not bad at all.

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**That's all for now. May update in another two weeks, after I update my other fanfic. Please review~ Comments, compliments, criticism are all welcome! **


	22. Chapter 22: Celebrations

**Alright, not too slow this time I hope~ Well, I also hope you'll like this latest chapter... not sure if it is up to my usual standard. Some stuf here are based on certain assumptions and what I can remember in Bleach, so if I've made any mistake in terms of facts whatsoever, let me know, 'kay?**

**Disclaimer: *copy-and-paste from previous chapters* Now on to the story~!**

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Chapter 22: Celebrations

_"To each of us, friendship may hold different meanings, but for all of us, it is a wonderful gift."_

Trouble. Nothing but trouble. My whole day was full of trouble. Trouble number one: I got a C for my language essay. Trouble number two: I got a B for my art essay. Trouble number three, four and five: I failed my maths, physics and chemistry quizzes. Trouble number five: my friends are suspicious of what-the-hell I'm doing because I haven't failed so many quizzes at one go before. And I usually got As for my essays, especially art.

Well, it couldn't be helped. After attempting to catch up on my homework, I still had to practice my bankai. My past week was spent running around, attempting homework, bankai, and avoiding Toshiro (who gets angrier each time I see him), Kurotsuchi (who gets creepier each time I see him) and Yachiru (who gets sulkier each time I see her).

"So your grades are dropping?" Kenpachi commented one day. How he found out, I have no ide-

"Unfortunately," replied Yumichika. Hey, since when did he start spying on my school life?! I know he's supposed to be my 'relative', but...

"Oh it'll be fine. Once Hitsugaya-taichou's birthday is over, I can spend more time on school work. Besides, the school hols start tomorrow," I said.

"What?! School work?! Spend more time with me!" Yachiru exclaimed from Kenpachi's shoulder. She had been getting more and more childish lately, insisting that I helped out more with the Shinigami Women's Association.

"Fine. Both. I'll play with you some. When my grades are better. 'Kay?"

"Cheshaa-chan is meeeaaan," whined Yachiru. I sighed. She's as bad as Akirai. Aki-chan just cornered me today and demanded 'an explanation of my suspicious behavior'. Then she accused me of being an imposter, much to Hana-chan's exasperation and my amusement.

"So, five more days to Hitsugaya-taichou's birthday, right?" Yumichika asked. I confirmed it.

"Hey, when are you planning to show us your bankai?" Ikkaku demanded.

"She already did," Kenpachi replied.

"Yeah, she did. During a spar with Captain," someone else in our division agreed.

"And another time when Yachiru demanded me to show it to you guys," I said. Then I frowned and tried to remember if I recall seeing Ikkaku there.

"Whaaat?! So everyone has seen it except me?!" Ikkaku exclaimed. Oh yeah! The guy was having a nap when I gave the division a demo.

"It's quite pretty," said Yachiru.

"I agree," said Yumichika, much to Ikkaku's distress. Poor left-out dude.

"Five days, Ikkaku," I said to him. "You can have a look at it when I present it to Hitsugaya-taichou."

"Why not now?!"

"Too risky." And it was more fun testing his patience, but I did not say that aloud.

The next day was a Saturday, and try as I might, I could not avoid Hanaha when she was in her let's-go-shopping mode. So Akirai and I got dragged along for her shopping spree. We spent almost a whole day at the mall, before I managed to escape back to Soul Society and practice my bankai again.

There were a few places in Seireitei where I could practice my bankai away from prying eyes... Most of the time. Sometimes, Kenpachi would join me to have a spar. Ikkaku tried to spar with me too, but I never revealed my bankai to him when I did so, so he had to wait until Toshiro's birthday arrived.

On Sunday, I dropped by Urahara's shop. After making sure that Jinta was doing his fair share of housework, running a simple errand for Urahara, and telling him about my progress with my bankai, I returned to Soul Society. I spent another hour hiding from Kurotsuchi and his creepy face, before having a few spars with my division members. This is how my time gets spent and wasted.

Monday came, and I spent half of it helping out at the animal center. Fukuro **(A/N: in case you've forgotten, Fukuro and her twin brothers, Tako and Washi are in charge of the animal home that Chizuki sometimes work part-time at)**asked me about Fuyu, my pet fox and I gave her a quick reply and changed the topic. Fuyu was fine and healthy, but she was so playful, and not in a destructive way, that she really remind me of a certain still missing someone.

I asked Kenpachi about him when I returned to Soul Society.

"Who knows. But why do you want to know?" he said.

"Just wondering. I mean, I've seen most of the captains around, while checking out the places I could use for bankai practice, but I didn't see him. And it's... It gets suspicious when someone like him is not around," I tried to explain... Well, not explain, but uh... telling the half-truth. Of course, when I said I saw most of the captains around, I meant every captain except the Hueco Trio. I wonder if Aizen has told the other two about his suspicions of me yet.

"Maybe. But he'll reappeared sooner or later, like all pests do," Kenpachi said. Right.

Tuesday was the day before Toshiro's birthday. I spent the morning working at the animal home, and the afternoon practiced bankai for three hours and slacking the rest of the time. I think I've gotten the hang of my bankai, but now, the problem was... How was I going to present it to Toshiro? And why didn't I think about this earlier?

Matsumoto saved the day when she came up to me late that night, asked for my help and brought me to her division's compound.

"We need help with the decorations, and I heard you're good at art," she said as she gestured around at the decorations strung about the division compound. There were ribbons hung along the eaves of the roofs like grapevines, some balloons scattered about on the floor, some balloons hanging in clumps like miserable grapes on the buildings, and there were even strings of lights hanging haphazardly about the place. Colorful electronic lights. Like those usually found on Christmas trees. Which looked a little out of place in a traditional setting like soul society. Actually, the balloons and ribbons looked odd too.

"Where's Hitsugaya-taichou?" I asked her. He was the captain of this division after all.

"Asleep," Matsumoto replied. Alright. As long as he remains asleep, this should be of no problem...

"I slipped a sleeping drug in his tea this evening," Matsumoto continued to say. "It'll wear off at midnight, so we have now until then to prepare for this, before he wa-Cheshaa-chan, why is your face twitching?"

"Nevermind," I muttered. A sleeping drug? Seriously? Where had she gotten it from? Kurotsuchi? Yachiru?

"Matsumoto-fukutaichou," called a member of their division, carrying a roll of something as he walked towards us. "Where should this go?"

"Ah... Ask Cheshaa-chan," was her reply. "She's in charge of the decorating team now."

Eh? Since when? Oh well, not that I mind... "What's that?"

"It's the banner," the shinigami replied and gave the roll to me. Banner? I unrolled it and had a good look at it.

The banner was a lovely blue, the color of a summer sky, with bold silver words painted on it. It said, "Happy Birthday, Hitsugaya Toshiro Taichou!"

On to work! The first thing I did was to edit the banner. O requested for some paint, and painted dark blue shadows beneath the silver words to make them stand out more. Then I painted snow crystals all over the banner. Banner done, I ordered some 10th Division shinigamis to hang it on the walk directly outside Toshiro's quarters.

Next, I straightened the ribbons and streamers a bit, before adding spirally loops and twirls to them. I got the shinigamis to remove some balloons from some areas and add them to others. White balloons were hung at the top corners of the banner. The Christmas lights were hung over the doorway of Toshiro's quarters, as well as twisting in and out of the ribbon and streamer loops hung on the eaves of the buildings. Then I got everyone to prepare party hats. We didn't have time for preparing party poppers, but that was perfectly (yes, perfectly) unnecessary.

By midnight, all the deco was done, and I must say, it was quite nicely done. It felt good doing the deco, as it reminded me of my time in Las Noche when I ordered my fracciones around to help me with repainting rooms. Everyone was waiting in the dark now, with colorful party hats on their heads. Matsumoto was standing beside the switch for the Christmas lights. Shinigamis from other divisions were there too, such as Yachiru, Kenpachi, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Hinamori, Hisagi and even Kuchiki. There were so many other shinigamis gathered that I couldn't identify more than one tenth of them.

"You know, this is the first time that this has happened," Matsumoto commented to me as we waited for Toshiro to awake.

"What? You mean the birthday celebration?"

"No, we do celebrate birthdays, but not often, and definitely not like this, with so many people gathered," Matsumoto explained. "I have a feeling you and your present are part of the reasons why there are so many here today."

Really? I examined the crowd again. All my shinigami arts instructors were here, and they seem to have brought some of their division members too. What about the others then? My question was answered when I spotted a tall, silver-haired shinigami waving at me through the crowd. I did not see the brown-haired weasel-face bespectacled guy beside him as I was very good at ignoring people and fooling myself when it comes to this sort of thing.

"Don't worry, I didn't hear him speak a word about your learning bankai until yesterday. Well, he didn't actually say you were learning bankai either, just that you had a very interesting present. You told him to keep it a secret, right?" Matsumoto said when she saw me looking at Gin.

"I'm actually surprised he kept the secret for so long," I admitted, then waved back at the fox-faced shinigami.

"Here he comes," whispered someone from the crowd. And Toshiro came strolling out of his quarters, looking rather sleepy but otherwise, still dressed in his shinigami captain attire.

"Rangiku, what-" he began rather blearily, which was kinda cute, and we interrupted him with a partially-synchronized shout of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!", different people shouting different names (Toshiro, Toshiro-taichou, Hitsugaya, Hitsugaya-taichou, Taichou, Shiro-chan etc) and Matsumoto switched on the Christmas lights.

At that moment, just as everyone had finished shouting "HAPPY BIRTHDAY", I unsheathed and released my swords.

"Happy birthday, Hitsugaya-taichou," I said to a surprised and bewildered kid captain. "_Suigin no Hiko, **bankai.**_"

In an instant, my black and white blades shattered into a thousand pieces and turned into a flight of winged creatures. Each winged creature was small, like the size of a Jigokuchō. They resembled butterflies, but their large wings were more slim and elegant, and if one looks closer, one can see that its body was smaller than a butterfly's and slightly different in shape, with small mandibles instead of a proboscis, a flexible segmented thorax, small claws in place of its feet, it's abdomen elongated into a long flexible tail-like structure. If I were to identify it, I'd say it's a cross between a butterfly and a tiny scorpion, though in the end, because of the name of the bankai, I simply called them quicksilver.

The flight of winged creatures streamed through the air, glinting silver as they flew, the movement fluid, resembling living silver. As they dispersed and filled the air like glittery silver confetti, it became obvious that they weren't actually silver. Each 'individual' quicksilver was actually formed by a pair of the winged creatures, one white flying directly above one black. The white was not pure white, but had a mother-of-pearl opalescent sheen, and the black was gleaming iridescent, like rainbow obsidian or the feathers of a starling. The two flitted so closely to each other, they seemed silver, with the black acting as the white's shadow.

Since my bankai was just for the show, I made sure that none of the quicksilver touched any of the shinigami gathered there. Thank goodness my bankai looked so decorative and artistic that anyone who hasn't experienced my shikai wouldn't be able to guess what its abilities are. Then with a wave of the my now blameless sword hilts, the quicksilver cleared away to flit high in the air above us like fireflies, so that they wouldn't block anyone's view.

Toshiro's face was priceless. His jaw was slightly slacked, his mouth opened, and eyes wide. He stood there for a moment, not saying anything, not doing anything... And everyone watched in silence, though one could feel the excitement humming in the air. Then...

"When can we cut the cake?" Yachiru suddenly asked, her cute loud clear voice breaking the silence.

"Oh! The cake!" exclaimed Matsumoto and disappeared. There was a flurry of activity as some 10th Division shinigami went off to help their lieutenant get the cake.

"So, Shiro-chan," Yachiru said from Kenpachi's shoulder as they made their way towards him. Some other shinigamis started to give Toshiro presents too. Yachiru gave him a box of candy.

"So," Yachiru repeated. "Did you like it?"

"Did I like...?" I think he was having a case of brain-lag due to shock or something because he didn't seem to be able to process the question.

"The surprise. The deco. The celebration. The prezzies... The confetti bankai," Yachiru listed them down and I thought to myself, oh kami, my bankai has just gotten a ridiculous nickname and I'm probably gonna get stuck with that for some time. Ah well, it was worth it anyways. I love my bankai. Anyone who underestimates it will get attacked by silver confetti.

"_Ne_, why are you grinning like that, Neko-chan?" asked someone beside me. I turned to see myself face to face with a fox. We were face to face because he was slouching and leaning forward with his head cocked to one side in curiosity. Otherwise he'd be one-and-a-half head taller than me. Have I ever mentioned that I find tall people irritating?

"That'd probably be at least half the shinigami here," Gin commented. "It's too bad you're a little short." Wait, I said that aloud?

"I'm fourteen!" I protested. "Five feet is a suitable height for a fourteen-year-old. You watch, my aim is reach six feet by the time I'm sixteen!"

Then the irritating idiot pat me on the head. "There, there, I think your height is actually quite fine for me. By the way, you haven't told me why you were grinning like a Cheshire Cat just now."

"I was feeling happy... Until you came along," I replied.

"So you're no longer happy?"

I wanted to say 'yeah, that's right' but that would be a lie. Then just as I was about to answer him with a lie, he spoke before I could.

"You hesitated. So you're still happy," Gin concluded. "Pity."

"Yeah," I said as I sighed dramatically. "What a pity my happiness cannot be spoiled by a snake like you."

"Having fun? So you managed to learn your bankai all by yourself, in such a short time. You must be quite talented," came another voice and instantly, my happiness ran for it's life and fell off a cliff.

"Yep," I said in my most cheerful and shining smile. "Can't wait for the cake to come." So that I can splatter some on your face. Though it would be a waste of cake...

"Cheshaa-chan!" yelled Yachiru. I turned away from the kind, bespectacled, nerdy-looking, fatherly figure. Thank you Yachiru, you've saved my life at least three times now.

"Cheshaa-chan!" Yachiru yelled again and a grinning Kenpachi came pushing through the crowd towards us, with the pink-haired shinigami perched on his shoulder as usual. Maybe he's one of the few tall people I don't mind.

"What is it?" I asked them. Yachiru looked ecstatic.

"We told Shiro-chan all about your hard work and trainings and practices and everything we know about what you did to achieve your bankai!" Yachiru said. Everything? I need to buy duct tape some day. There were so many people I needed to shut up.

"Yeah, and the kid went into shock and-"

"Yoruka!" shouted Toshiro as he interrupted Kenpachi. He came over and joined us, then frowned at Kenpachi and Gin. Then he frowned at Yachiru and Aizen too.

"_Ja_, I think the cake's coming. See you later," said Gin, waved and disappeared into the crowd. Aizen followed him. Did Gin just show some sense of... Thoughtfulness? Consideration?

"Cake? The cake's here?" exclaimed Yachiru and directed Kenpachi away from us. I wouldnt be surprised if they actually got lost finding the cake.

"So... You were looking for me?" I asked Toshiro politely. He stared at me, stared at the crowd on his left, stared at the crowd on his right, then his eyes finally returned back to my face.

"Thank you, Yoruka-san. I liked your birthday presents," he said, a little awkwardly. I grinned back at him, happiness reviving from it's earlier death.

"Presents? I thought I only gave you one? And why are you so formal?" I asked.

"Weren't you the one who did the decorations and..." then he waved his hand around him. All I saw was people and more people. Was he referring to the whole party?

"Oh, your division was the one who planned this. I only helped out with the decor. And I've no idea why so many shinigamis have turned up... Though I think someone may have leaked out some news that I was going to give you an interesting present," I replied. No need to increase the animosity between him and the fox. Toshiro nodded.

"I like your bankai, but may I know, what does it do?" he said and stared up at the winged creatures still flitting about in the air above.

"Same as my shikai, but much more effectively," I told him. I was purposely being vague just in case anyone tried to eavesdrop on us. "Why don't we go for some cake? I haven't seen what your division has prepared yet."

"Sure," he said and we walked towards the area where most of the shinigaimis were gathered.

"Make way for the birthday captain!" I yelled as we walked through the crowd. The crowd parted like an undisciplined red sea. In the middle of the crowd, was a table. And on the table was a cake on a plate. Even half-eaten, it was obvious that the cake had at least three layers, decorated with white icing, cream, cherries and chocolate. It was lovely, and I wondered who made it.

Matsumoto was standing beside the table with a few other of her division members who were serving out cake. Matsumoto cut a big slice and handed it to Toshiro.

"We decided to skip the singing and candles because I don't think we have enough candles and there's not much point," she said to us. "Sorry about that."

I took a slice of cake from a random shinigami serving the cake. "Well, as long as there's cake, and everone's happy... Oh and Toshiro-kun, you don't have to always call me by my surname, you know. It sounds kinda stiff. Plus you've given me permission to call you by your given name after all." And everyone seems to have fun giving me nicknames. Now how many different names I've been called already? Sangre, Sen-chan, Ryuu-kun, Cheshaa-chan, Neko-chan, Chii-kun, my given name and surname, and I won't even bother listing down all the other names I've been called in Las Noche (such as maggot).

"Hey, Confetti-bankai girl!" yelled someone as he came towards us. Oh gosh. Please don't let that nickname stick.

"Pachinko-head!" I greeted him cheerfully.

"Since when did you start calling me that?" Ikkaku demanded. I snorted.

"Since the time you started to call me 'Confetti-bankai girl'."

"It looks like confetti and you used it as confetti," Ikkaku protested. I smirked.

"Wait till we spar again. You will be defeated by confetti."

"Who's going to be defeated by confetti?" asked someone standing nearby. He had long, red spiky hair tied in a ponytail and funny eyebrows. I think I've seen him around before, but never got around talking to him. He's one of those members of our division that I don't remember the name of.

"Ikkaku, cuz confetti does not like being insulted," I replied. "Who are you?"

"Abarai Renji," the red-head replied. "You're the weird new shinigami student, right?"

"Weird, maybe. New? Well, I think I've been here for at least seven months or more," I replied.

"Less than a year," Renji said. "And yet I hear you're graduating soon."

"I am?" I turned to Ikkaku, Toshiro and Matsumoto.

"Well, we heard that once you graduate from Kuchiki-taichou's and Hisagi-fukitaichou's class, you'll officially graduate and become a proper shinigami," Yumichika said and the group got larger. The more the merrier.

"Which probably won't be anytime soon," I groaned. "I hate kido. They're so damn irritating."

"One trait that most of us 11th Division members share," Ikkaku laughed.

"Give me another year. Maybe my brain and tongue will cooperate enough to cast some kido spells then," I replied. "Why on earth are the incantations of some of spells so damn long?"

"Well, Kuchiki-taichou can cast kido spells better than the rest of us without saying a word," Yumichika said.

"But of course. He is my kido instructor after all," I said while sighing. Who invented all those long incantations anyways?

At one o'clock in the morning, the party ended and everyone went back to their quarters to sleep. No one woke up until eight the next morning... Even the usual early-risers. And then, there were those who had too much sake and had hangovers.

After Toshiro's birthday, I could finally stop avoiding him and giving him the wrong impression of me, I didn't need to focus so much on bankai training, I had so much more time for everything else... In other words, everything went back to normal, except three things: I've got a bankai, people have started to call me 'Confetti-bankai-girl' or any other variants such as 'Confetti-chan/kun', Toshiro started calling me by Matsumoto's and Yachiru's nickname for me: "Cheshaa-chan" and he always manage to say it with a perfectly straight face... Until Matsumoto glomped him and made such a fuss about him using that nickname that he ignored/avoided me for a whole week. When we were back on speaking terms, he no longer called me by that nickname, and used my given name instead.

Christmas came and both Yachiru and Akirai went on a candy craze. It was kinda exasperating whenever I travel from one world to another and in both worlds there is some hyperactive girl carrying a hell lot of candy canes and chocolates, going, "Candy! Want some candy?" or "Do you have any candy to share?" or "Sweets! Chocolate! Lollipops!" or... yeah. So on and so forth.

Then I noticed that Yachiru seemed to have a crush on Byakuya. Speaking of which, I also had a weird conversation with Hana-chan and Aki-chan about love, when we went out for lunch together on Boxing Day. Hana-chan was the one who brought it up, because she had enough of, as she puts it, my 'lack of love life'. Both of them has had crushes before, though they've never dated. Me? I have never had a crush... Not until this year's March at least. And no one needs to know anything about it.

"So, what will be your ideal boyfriend?" asked Hana-chan. "I think mine would be black haired, fair skinned, quiet..."

"Basically, you're interested in the dark and silent type?" Aki-chan interrupted. "What about vampires?"

"What has vampires got to do with anything?" I asked, one eyebrow raised.

"They always depict vampires with black hair, pale skin and red eyes right? They're creatures of the night, so they're naturally moody and silent too," Akirai explained. There was a loud slam and we turned to see Hana-chan's forehead on the table. I could imagine a sign saying, 'I give up' floating above her head.

"It's true!" Aki-chan protested. "Anyways, I think I prefer the not-so-quiet type. He will be a daredevil, with spiky hair-I don't care what color-and a tattoo and-"

"You're looking for the badboy gangster-ish kind then," Hanaha concluded. "Naughty girl."

"It's not so surprising though," I commented. "Aki-chan's such a troublemaker herself."

"Sheesh, what about you?" Akirai asked irritably.

"Please don't tell me you haven't thought about this before," Hanaha said, her eyes wide. I sighed.

"Well..." I began and paused when my two best friends leaned across the table, faces full of anticipation.

"Go on," Aki-chan prompted. Okaaaay...

"Uh... I think I'd just like someone like me?" I said as someone's grinning face popped into my mind. The two of them sat back down in their seats.

"So... Someone who's annoying, suspicious and tricky? Is that right?" Aki-chan asked.

"And a closetful of smiles," Hana-chan added. The grinding face in my mind grinned even wider.

"Now, can we change the topic?" I asked. My friends exchanged a glance, then grinned at me. It was a predatory grin I recognized. Uh-oh.

"Not so fast, girlfriend," Hana-chan said.

"I think someone's finally caught it," said Aki-chan.

"Caught what?" Yeah, I just had to ask, right?

"The love bug," Hanaha and Akirai said at the same time with identical evil grins on their faces. Me and my stupid mouth. Where was my talent for being annoyingly cryptic when I needed it? Or maybe that's what gave it away? Was I that easy to read?

"So," began the two of them at the same time. "Who's this lucky guy?" And hell started.

...

In the end, I simply kept denying the existence of my having any love life. They didn't believe me of course, but thankfully, they did give up in the end. However, when I returned to Soul Society, I met Yachiru who asked me, "You have a boyfriend?"

It took all my effort to keep my face blank and ask her in a fake bewildered tone, "Huh? Where did you get that idea from?"

"You kept muttering 'I do not have a boyfriend' and 'I don't even have a crush on anyone'," Yachiru replied innocently. "And it sounded like self-denial."

"Where's Kenpachi anyways?" I asked, hoping to change the topic. Before Yachiru answered, someone said from behind me, "Eh? Did I hear wrongly? Neko-chan has a boyfriend?"

"I think she does," Yachiru went on to say. Now I really adored and loved this kid, but at that moment, I wanted to gag her and spirit her away. Well actually, that's just a milder way of saying that I wanted to strangle her.

"No, I do not have a boyfriend," I said irritably. I could say that confidently though, because I really didn't have a boyfriend, cuz 'boyfriend' meant that a relationship existed, and I sure as hell had no such relationship with anyone, not that sort of relationship anyways.

"How interesting! Neko-chan actually has a boyfriend... I must admit, I didn't expect that," said the someone behind me. "So now the question is, who is it?"

"Is he human?" Yachiru asked me.

"No, cuz he doesn't exist," I replied. Totally true, whichever way you choose to look at it. No, he isn't human... Well, he once was, but that's not the point. And he doesn't actually 'exist', not as a 'boyfriend' at least.

"Hmm~ I don't think I believe that," Someone-behind-me said.

"Believe what you want, no one's stopping you. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go for my kido lessons," I replied, said goodbye, and shunpo-ed away. Thankfully, neither Yachiru nor Someone-behind-me** (A/N: Has anyone guessed who this Someone is? It's quite easy actually)** gave chase. Thankfully, by the end of the week, no one bothered me about such questions again, nor did I hear of any rumors regarding this... Yet.

...

Winter break ended, and school started again. New Year was quite enjoyable, and different from all the other New Years I've had before. Usually, Akirai, Hanaha and I would spend the New Year together at some odd place (like the playground, or an abandoned building). However, I spent this New Year in Soul Society after telling my friends that I would be with my 'relatives'.

At twelve midnight, I found myself sitting on some roof, eating mochi with Yachiru. This was because Yachiru was sweet enough to insist on accompanying me when I escaped from the noise and drinks at the party. I think I spent ten minutes up there, listening to the partying shinigamis yell "Happy New Year", before Kenpachi came to 'kidnap' the both of us back to the party that was held in our Division's compounds. I was caught by surprise, so Kenpachi managed to scoop me up and throw me over his shoulder while Yachiru sat on the other shoulder laughing at my stunned face.

The party was fine enough, if one ignores the noise and drunken people. The lighthearted merry mood was contagious... Though the games we played were not exactly to my liking. In a game of Truth or Dare, someone asked me if I had a crush on someone. I had to answer yes, but thankfully no one got the chance to ask who, because I chose Dare next. And ended up hugging a disgruntled Toshiro (Matsumoto had forced him to join in) for half the game. When my turn came along again, I chose Dare again, and ended up sitting beside Aizen for the rest of the game. Did I mention that I was sitting on Aizen's left? Which was in between Aizen and a certain foxface? Both Gin and Aizen seemed to enjoy the game quite thoroughly. Their amusement at my discomfort sitting in between them was obvious to me, though Aizen's amusement probably wasn't very obvious to the other shinigamis. I really can't stand that kind fatherly look he has when he wears those fake specs in Soul Society. I can't hardly believe that I'm saying this, but I prefer his evil weasel face better.

Then dawn came. We went out to see the first rays of sunlight, which was very beautiful. Part of the sky was lit by a soft golden glow, while the rest of the sky was shades of blue and silver. I briefly wondered if the Arrancars in Las Noche would be enjoying this too, then remembered that the sky there was fake, so they may not experience a proper sunrise. They probably weren't even aware that New Year had arrived. Poor Hollows.

"Make a wish!" Yachiru scolded me when I spaced out for that moment.

And so I made a wish on the first sunrise of the New Year.

...

After the New Year celebrations, while we were cleaning up the mess we made, someone came up to me, grinning as usual.

"Join the fun," I told him and tossed him a broom. He caught it and stared at it funny. So I tossed him a dust pan and a feather duster too. "Help yourself."

"How could'ja make a captain spend the New Year doing housework?" he demanded. I checked his face. Still smiling. Then I checked his reiatsu. Lazy coiling snakes. So I wasn't in trouble yet.

"Eh? Wasn't that why you came here? Out of overflowing kindness, generosity and the New Year spirit, you have decided to help clean up the mess that you and your sake-drinking buddies made? No? How disappointing." I ended it with a dramatic sigh while Yachiru giggled. Ikkaku and some other division members merely shook his head. Then they froze, unfroze, looked up, and finally realized who I was talking to. Hmm... Kinda slow, aren't they? Can't blame them though, since we stayed up all night partying. Their expression was priceless.

"Fine, since ya put it that way, I'll help," Gin said. I raised and eyebrow at his smiley face.

"I'm not buying that," I said, but I didn't bother taking the broom, feather duster and dustpan back from him.

"Then why did'ja give me these if you don't expect me to use them?" he asked in a mock-accusing tone.

"Because you look funny standing there, carrying them in your hands," I said honestly. "What did you come here for anyway? Tease us about having to clean up after everyone else on a fine New Year's day?"

I think I might have stunned the fox then, but he recovered so quickly, I may have imagined it. Gin put the dust pan, feather duster and broom to one side and walked towards me. "Well, I was planning to do that until you threw these at me. Not very respectful, throwing brooms at a Captain y'know."

"Unless you actually plan on stabbing me with your sword for disrespecting you, you can quit with all those accusations. Why are you here? Really," I replied, ignoring the tension building up in the room. Only Yachiru, Ikkaku and Yumichika looked curious at our exchange instead of worried. Funny thing was, I don't think Gin and I felt tense-only the one's listening in did. I wasn't frightened of him... Not really.

Gin looked thoughtful for a moment, his smile never leaving his face. I requested Yachiru to get everyone back to work instead of focusing on this foxface. It vaguely occurred to me thar none of them had greeted him when they noticed his arrival. I sighed.

"Hebi-kun, since you don't intend on being helpful, could you go find some other people to annoy?" I asked as I waved my broom in front of him. Once again, I wondered how he sees with his eyes closed.

"Fine, fine," said Gin, putting up his hands in a mock-gesture of surrender. "But I was wondering, what did you wish for this morning?"

"None of your business," I replied and chased him out of the Division compounds with a broom, much to the amusement of Kenpachi, who just happened to be passing by.

"You get along pretty well with that snake, don't you?" remarked Kenpachi. I snorted, though I admit he was right. It didn't quite occur to me before, but I was still an unseated shinigami-in-training and I bet my conversations with Gin are far more comfortable than some of the ones he'd had with seated shinigami, no matter what I say to him. Why though?

"It's... not too hard, so long as you remember how tricky he is and how much he likes to annoy people," I replied with a slight frown.

"So what was your New Year's wish, Cheshaa-chan?" Yachiru asked.

"Didn't I say it's none of anyone's business?" I replied uncomfortably.

"Aww..." Yachiru said as she pouted, and left on Kenpachi's shoulder. (She wasn't really helping with the clean up anyways) Then I went back to cleaning the compound with the rest of my division.

What was my New Year's wish huh? Truthfully, I didn't have one. I had many. Though I guess to sum it all up, I just wanted everything to work out. All the different worlds, secrets and stuff. Ah well... So long as I don't end up having to choose between helping Neliel or Matsumoto in a fight, or something along those lines, I guess everything should be all right.

* * *

**That's all for now! A warning for my next chapter: One plus year's of stuff crammed in one chapter (hope it ends up better than it sounds) By the way, my thanks for all those who have reviewed so far~ And to all my dear readers, please review... Or else. XD**


	23. Chapter 23: Promotion

**Here's another chapter~ As I have warned in the previous chapter, this one may not turn out very good because it's basically several time-skipping events crammed into one chapter. Hope it's actually better than I think it is. Btw, I'm pretty sure I screwed up some major time stuff to suit my plot(you'll get it when you read it) but I hope you'll forgive me... Ehehehe *sheepish laughter***

**Disclaimer: For the last time, I don't own Bleach! Now on to the story!**

* * *

Chapter 23: Promotion

_"Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is enough time." _

Time passed. Not as quickly as I hoped it would, but quickly enough. At any rate, it passed faster than it passed last year, as it always does. I haven't the foggiest theory why time always seem to past faster every year though.

Anyhow, I finally found out how to shorten each bloody kido incantation without weakening it. It wasn't really the incantation that created the spell, but the meaning in the words said in the incantation. So if I can run the incantation in my mind very quickly, keeping in mind it's meaning, say the minimal words of the spell i.e. It's most basic name, I could still perform some pretty good kido. Of course, I was no pro at it, as most of us 11th Division people are.

I spent quite a lot of time practicing my hollow stuff too. As Urahara was the only one who knew of my Arrancar side with a big enough place for me to practice in, I'd sometimes visit him and use that underground arena of his. I was still trying to figure out what sonido-utsusemi was called. Then I decided to just name it myself, so I started calling it cigarra vacía, a literal translation from it's Japanese name.

I finally got the hang of standing and walking on air too. It required quite some skill at condensing spirit particles beneath my feet. At first, I needed to concentrate a lot to do this, and my fellow division members (as well as Urahara, Jinta and Gin) would tease me about my weight, even though I was probably lighter than many of them. I think it's kinda cool, using the air as the ground. To me, it's the mark of becoming a proper spirit. After all, the stereotypical spirit is supposed to be able to 'float' in mid air, right?

I finally graduated in May, and got back my proper shinigami uniform. But even before I graduated, I was already going on hollow-hunting missions, mainly because I excelled in killing hollows more than anything else... The irony of it. I wonder what I'd do if Aizen ever decides to send me on shinigami-hunting missions. I didn't like the thought of that.

Following my graduation, Kenpachi made me the fourth seat of the division, because I was clearly stronger than Yumichika (who actually could've taken that seat but did not like the seat number) and though I was stronger than Ikkaku, I couldn't be bothered to take the third seat from him. I was happy with the fourth seat... Other than the fact that I agreed with Yumichika on the beauty (or lack thereof) of the number four.

I made alterations to my shinigami uniform, shortening the kosode's sleeves so that it only reaches a little past my elbows. Then my birthday came, and for some reason or other, everyone (that I know) seemed to know my birthday. I suspect that Kenpachi, Yachiru and Aizen must have had something to do with it. I just returned to the 11th Division quarters one day, only to be ambushed by six captains, three lieutenants and many division members. Thank goodness I was strong enough not to faint when Aizen (yes, AIZEN!) gave me a present. It was a scarf, a pair of fingerless gloves and a pair of boots (my overactive imagination started traumatizing me with mental images of Aizen shopping) and I had no idea what for, other than to confirm my suspicions that his suspicions of me had been confirmed.

The scarf was white, while the glovelettes and boots were black and white. The fact that he knew my shoe and hand size was freaky. Then when I customized my uniform to match the glovelettes and boots (cutting off the sleeves altogether, so my kosode became sleeveless, and adjusted the cut of the hakama... Don't ask me why I accepted his prezzie... It looked too nice to waste) I realized that my newly customized clothes looked more modern than it should. In other words, all I had to do was invert the black and white colors and I'd look like a mask-less and hole-less Arrancar. But since I was still wearing more black than white, and the uniform still had a traditional Japanese touch, I don't think anyone else noticed... Not even Gin. Or of he did, he gave no indication. I have a funny feeling that he still doesn't know that I'm Sangre, cuz he wasn't dropping hints here and there like Aizen, and I figured that being him, he'd definitely tease me about it if he was aware of it. Why Aizen didn't tell him, I had no clue either.

Comparing the shinigami boots to my Arrancar ones, the sleeker shinigami ones were black with a white streak running down the sides, and the thicker Arrancar ones were white with black cuffs and soles. Both were comfortable and easy to shunpo in. Then there were the white-cuffed black glovelettes, made of thin soft flexible leather, used to absorb and soften impact than to protect or injure, unlike my white skeletal Arrancar ones. I could go on and list down all the other differences between my western Arrancar clothes and my japanese shinigami ones, but that's be a waste of time.

Unfortunately, decked in my new outfit, I attracted more attention than I liked. There were weird shinigami around all the time, and I was definitely looked more normal than many others I knew, but combine my customized uniform with my spreading fame of being a shinigami prodigy of sorts... Well, it made me wish I could be more normal. I could do without random shinigami walking up to me and having a chat. And did anyone teach these people that it is rude to stare and point? Curse me and my overambitious ideas. If I hadn't insisted on beating Kenpachi, if I hadn't insisted on graduating so fast, if I hadn't tried to learn bankai, and maybe tone down my reiryoku and hollow-killing abilities... If if and more ifs.

"What did that rock do to you, Cheshaa-chan?" I looked up to see Yachiru standing beside me. I stared at her blankly. Rock?

"You were glaring at it like you could set it on fire," Yachiru elaborated. I blinked and realized that there was a poor rock that so happened to be part of the 'empty' space I was glaring at.

"Well, I'm no longer glaring at it, so what's up?" I said and took out a bar of chocolate to nibble on. Yavhiru gave me three sacks of chocolate (makes me wonder if she robbed a store to get these) for my birthday and now, two months later, I have yet to finish it.

"Ken-chan wants you to go investigate a hollow attack in the human world. A group of shinigami was sent three weeks ago and they haven't returned," she said. What? Three weeks ago... My summer break had just started then.

"Why didn't I hear of this before? How big was that group of shinigami?" I demanded.

"We didn't think it'd be anything serious until we realized that our shinigami have been gone for too long. That's why we're sending out more people to investigate it now," came a horribly familiar voice from behind. I turned to see Aizen walking towards us. I raised an eyebrow. Who else was accompanying me for this investigation?

As if he could read my mind, Aizen continued to speak, "Four unseated officers from my division have been sent out to deal with it but they have failed to return. After much discussion, the captains have decided to send you out on a solo mission to investigate this matter as a test of your skills."

"As a test of my skills? I've only just graduated and I'm going out to do what four experienced shinigami couldn't?" I exclaimed. What the hell was Aizen playing at. I had a strong feeling he had quite a say in getting me involve with this thing.

"You're the fourth seat of the 11th Division," Aizen simply replied. As if that explained everything. And in a way, it did, much to my annoyance. I suddenly wondered if he was out to kill me. But why would he want to kill me? Shut me up so that I won't tell on him? Eliminate me because he's decided he'd rather have me become a privation? Did he give my segunda placing to someone else already? Damn.

"I don't actually have any say in this, do I?" I said. He just smiled his kind fatherly smile, looking just a little sheepish. Oh, what I'd give to wipe that mask off his face.

That afternoon, I left soul society and entered the human world. No one told me where the hollows were, so I had to figure it out myself. It wasn't as easy as I thought. Apparently, these hollows are smarter than the usual ones. They are patient and subtle, instead of reckless and noisy. I didn't feel any unusual reiatsu around either.

So I visited Urahara and asked him if he knew anything about it. Urahara wasn't in, but Tessai told me what he knew, with Jinta constantly interrupting and adding his own points. I thanked them and hurried on my way. They had told me the last time they heard of the hollow, it was near my school.

There was barely anyone around when I got there, since it was the school hols and all. Still no screaming, or billowing smoke or exploding buildings to be seen nor heard. Great, just great. Just what kind of hollows was I dealing with? Adjuchas?

I went back to Urahara to get my body back (Nowadays, I have no idea why, but I leave it at his shop for 'safekeeping') and paid my friends a visit even though I had just seen them the day before. No harm making sure they're still safe. I didn't find them at their houses though. According to Hana-chan's sister, they had gone to find me. So I made my way back to my old apartment.

On my way, I made a detour and saw the first signs of a hollow attack: a huge hole in the brick wall of an abandoned house. Then I saw one dead shinigami there. Scrunching up my face in disgust, I approached the still form. Blood was everywhere, but I doubt anyone but I could see it. Something was off about the corpse, so I went on impulse: I slapped it. To my surprise, the 'corpse' jerked, shrieked and sent a random Byakurai in my direction. I easily dodged it.

"Whoah! Whoah! Calm down, I'm not here to kill you," I told the frightened shinigami. When he refused to stop attacking me, I had to bind him with Sai (Bakudo, no. 1). Then I forced him to look at me.

"Alright, now can you explain what the hell is going on?" I asked him. He merely stared blankly at me. The only thing I saw in his eyes was fear. Fine.

"Why are you scared?" I asked him instead. He continued to give me that wide-eyed stare before finally mumbling, "I don't know."

I stared back at him. "How did you fall unconscious? Who attacked you?"

Once again, his reply was, "I don't know." And the thing was, I had a very strong feeling that he was telling the truth.

"Alright, can you tell me what division you come from?" I asked. Interrogation was not what I trained for. How did I end up doing this?

"Division?" he questioned blankly. Holy motherf-ing shit. Someone must have wiped away his memory!

"Okay, now can you stay here, and don't move. If something comes and attack you, scream as loud as you can. Now where's your sword?" I said, reinforcing the binding spell on him, hoping the hollows won't come and attack him again.

"I have a sword?" he asked. I ignored him and found the sword lying some distance away amongst some rubble. I left it in front of him, then left to search for the other three shinigami.

I found the next two nearer my home. Suspicious much? They were also suffering from severe memory loss, so I dragged the two of them back to where I found the first and dumped them there. They didn't even seem to recognize each other. Never mind, not my problem. They'd have to quickly recover their memory on their own, otherwise Kurotsuchi will have his fun with them.

The last one was found one block away from where I lived. So these hollows were targeting me? By now, I had no doubt Aizen had a hand in this. The last one seemed to remember a little more than the rest, bit still not much. The most he could tell me was his name and that the only thing he could recall was someone shoving something down his throat. He had fallen unconscious while half-choking to death. So... A drug then? I was so not cut for detective work.

When I reached my block, I went up to my apartment (which I hope isn't too dusty after being neglected since the hold started) and to my utmost surprise, I saw four people running along the corridor, and one person leaning on the wall beside my door.

"Chii-kun! Catch those brats! I found them hiding near your apartment like some stalkers!" Akirai yelled at me as three white laughing blurs flashed past me.

"What?" I asked just as Akirai raced past too. Hana-chan chuckled.

"When we came to visit you today, we spotted three kids crouching behind some of your neighbor's giant flowerpots. It wasn't hard to find them actually. They were grumbling amongst themselves about how many days they've waited there for you when we found them," Hanaha explained. "When they realized they'd been found, they ran off with Aki chasing after them. They've been at it for some time now. To Aki, it's chasing down three stalker kids, to them, I think it's like a game of tag or something."

The next time Aki-chan and the three kids flashed past, I reached out my hands and grabbed two collars, while sticking out a leg to trip the third. Akirai stopped in time to avoid crashing into them. I frowned at the three kids in front of me.

"Hikari? Harumi? Hinata?"

"What?! You know them?" Akirai asked, scowling. Her face was flushed. I don't think she had so much competition in running for quite some time. I haven't used shunpo when I'm human for awhile now, and these kids had definitely used a bit of sonido, not enough to leave her in the dust, but enough to outrun her. Specking of which... How can Aki-chan and Hana-chan see them?

"Sangre-senpai!" came three cheeky synchronized voices.

"Senpai? Who the hell are these kids?" Aki-chan demanded. Hikari promptly asked me, "Who the hell is this woman?" as he pointed to Aki-chan. The way he said 'woman' implied that he was tempted to add the word 'old' in front.

"Uh... Hana-chan, Aki-chan, meet my... apprentices. Hikaru's the goat-boy, Harumi's the deer, and Hinata's the gazelle," I said. "Guys, meet my best friends. Hanaha's the one with long hair, Akirai's the one who was chasing you."

"Apprentices? Not bad," commented Hana-chan. Aki-chan continued to scowl.

"What's with their funny skull hats?" she asked. I tried to see my fraccions from her point-of-view. Their black and white clothes were modern enough. Their hollow holes were hidden by the jackets they wore. The only oddity was the three skulls perched upon their dark hair.

"They are pretending to be modern grim reapers," I said, mentally wincing at the term. Shinigami my foot. At least my friends seem to have bought it, and my fraccions had the sense to play along.

"D'ya think my skull's cool?" asked Hikari. Now I can only hope that Akirai won't be curious enough to remove the skull.

"Why did you have to give our positions away?" Hinata demanded with a pout.

"I didn't know waiting for a victim would be this tiring," commented Harumi. "Do shinigami get leg cramps?"

I almost answered "Yes, we do" but stopped myself in time. "Alright, alright, introductions done, Hana-chan, Aki-chan, why are you guys here?"

"We wanted to ask you if you'd like to watch a movie with us," Hanaha quickly said before Akirai could say anything else distracting to satisfy her curiosity. I glanced at my fraccions who were patiently standing beside me. They made no sound or any indication of having heard the girl. So seemingly obedient, like lapdogs awaiting a master's command. Could've fooled me.

"Nah, since my apprentices are here, it seems like I've gotta entertain them today. What about tomorrow?" I replied.

"Sure," Hanaha said and raised an eyebrow at the three kids. "By the way, what kind of apprentices are they? Since when did you get them?"

"Since last year," I answered truthfully. "I'm teaching them pranks."

Akirai, my fellow prankster, snorted. "Figures. Well, if you need any advice on pranks, I'm always around."

Then they left. Hikari was the first one to speak up. "Is she jealous?"

"Maybe. You guys suddenly turn up and she realizes that she's gotta compete with you guys for attention so... Let's just say she's quite the attention-seeking type," I replied, then gave them my best teacher-catches-student-red-handed smile. "So, what are you guys doing here?"

The story came out. How they entered the human world. How they encountered an irritating bunch of gangsters bullying a girl. How they caused havoc in the process of running a gangster down with a truck. How they encountered four annoying shinigami who claimed to know Aizen. How they beat them senseless and how Hikari drugged them all with a memory-messing substance that Szayel made, so that they wouldn't remember about how a bunch of humanoid hollows knowing who Aizen is. How they found where I lived...

"Uh... Who's Szayel?" I asked. One of the many questions I now had for them.

"Szayelaporro. Pink-haired dude with spectacles," Hikari said. "He's the Octava Espada."

"Octava? Isn't that supposed to be the Spoon idiot?"

"Uh..." my three fraccions exchanged awkward glances. "Nnoitra is Quinta now."

"Eh? Since when?"

"Since... Neliel-sama and her fraccions disappeared," Harumi mumbled. I blinked. Neru-chan? Gone? How?

"Wait, so who's Tercera now?"

"Someone called Tier Harribel. She's got three fraccions," Hinata muttered. All three of them seemed extremely uncomfortable telling me the bad news. I frowned.

"How did Neru-chan disappear?"

"We don't know," Harumi said, but Hikari added darkly, "We think it's got something to do with the kitchenware in Las Noche."

"Uh... Sangre-senpai?" Hinata asked worriedly. I tilted my head to her, then realized that I was smiling broadly.

"Nothing for you to worry about. If anyone needs to worry, it's a certain Quinta Espada," I replied, my sadistic smile in full force. That bastard's gonna pay for this, culprit or not! Even if he's innocent, I'd still need someone to vent on. He's as good a Hollow as any.

"So, any other changes in our ranks?" I asked. Hikari grinned.

"You're still Segunda, if that's what you're asking," he said. Good. So...

"You guys still haven't answered my question. Why are you here? Is my exile over already?" Though Aizen could've saved the trouble and told me himself...

"No, but we were instructed to inform you that it is going to be lifted one year from now," Harumi said then gestured around her. "But could you explain what's going on? We come and find you in a human body and..."

"... Without your mask, without a hollow hole, making friends with... Humans..." continued Hikari. Oh this is gonna be so complicated.

So I explained it all. I trusted my fraccions that much. I told them about how I became a hollow and how I returned. Stupidly, I even told them about how I became a shinigami and how I got into such a predicament. Then I sat back and watched their reactions. To my surprise, there was no screaming or flinging of accusations or pointing of fingers. Harumi looked thoughtful, Hinata looked interested and curious, Hikari just looked stunned.

"What? Are you guys not going to curse me for betraying the Arrancars and being part human part shinigami?" I asked, feeling amused for some reason. According to my half-theory, the reason would be the fact that I'm a shinigami.

"Aizen's playing a game and we're his pawns, aren't we?" asked Hikari, sounding so serious that I was shocked.

"Yes, I'm surprised you guys only realized this now. In any case, you guys should get back to Las Noche soon. I'm supposed to 'deal' with you guys, so I can't return to Soul Society until you guys are gone," I replied.

"Who else knows of this?" Hinata asked.

"Uh... An ex-shinigami called Urahara, and Aizen himself. Urahara can be trusted... I think. Aizen is Aizen. You guys are not allowed to tell anyone about this without my permission, okay?" I said. My fraccions nodded and Harumi rolled her eyes. I frowned at her.

"It's an order," I told them, making full use of my authority over them for once. I knew my fraccions could probably trusted but this was serious.

"Wait, so Ichimaru doesn't know about this either?" Hinata suddenly asked, as if it was a very surprising thing, which it surprisingly was. Gin seemed like the kind of person to know all these gossip-y stuff, and if he doesn't know this, what does it say about his relationship with Aizen?

"No... I don't think he does..." I replied, and Hikari said, "No, he doesn't" as soon as I finished. All of us stared at him.

"Whenever we're alone with Aizen, he sometimes hint to us that you may be more than you seem. Tousen isn't the type, but Ichimaru hasn't spoken to us at all," he explained. Strange. Maybe Gin's just messing with us. That seems highly likely.

"Alright, let's keep it that way. Go back to Las Noche, act normal and just wait for me to return, kay?" I said. "Oh, and have you been addressing Aizen and the others like that?"

"Like what?" asked Harumi. I narrowed my eyes and mock-scolded them, "Leaving out all the suffixes of respect, of course. You know I don't care for the '-sama' shit but the other Espadas and the shinigami trio do."

"Yes, of course," Hikari drawled. "We slipped once, but thankfully it was Grimmjow-san, so he just yelled at us and chased us 'round Las Noche, before letting us go."

"Can you help us open a garganta?" Harumi asked. Oh, right, they're números. This is gonna be risky.

"Hmm... Follow me," I said and led them down to the streets and down the roads to Urahara's shop.

"Urahara! Are you home?!" I yelled. He came out with Jinta and Ururu behind him. Then they saw my fraccións and froze. His happy face was still there, but it was twitching.

"So you've brought guests today! Uh... They won't so happen to be..." he trailed off and stared at the three kids standing beside me.

"... The hollows disturbing this town for the past few weeks? Yeah, these are my fraccións, Harumi, Hinata and Hikari," I finished for him and introduced them. Then a strange thought occurred to me. "Guys, hey aren't your names Spanish?"

"We like Japanese names," Hikari said. "So we threw away our Spanish ones."

Okaaay... "Urahara-san, I need to open a garganta for them, so I was wondering if I could use your underground place, cuz there's a lower risk of soul society detecting it there."

Urahara, being someone whom I now conclude, very open-minded, let us in, despite the fact that we are four potentially dangerous hollows. Jinta looked quite horrified and pulled Ururu into another room. Tessai was nowhere to be seen.

"So, this Urahara guy knows all about your secrets, right?" Harumi asked.

"And he's an ex-shinigami, right?" Hikari added. I nodded. The three of them exchanged glances.

"Coool..." All three of them said at the same time and started staring at Urahara as if he were a fascinating new gadget.

"Guys, we're here to send you back to Hueco Mundo. Not prank on Urahara," I admonished them, albeit half-heartedly. I found their reactions to this strange shopkeeper funny. Urahara looked quite bemused.

Once we were in the huge underground place (my fraccions went ahead and flattered Urahara with all their praises and dramatic gasps of astonishment upon seeing the place), I used descorrer and opened a garganta for my fraccions to enter. I didn't follow them of course. There was no need to. I was satisfied with Soul Society for now, though I did somewhat miss Grimmjow.

After I closed the garganta though, I was reminded of how difficult and irritating shinigami life was, as compared to the life of an Arrancar. And I think I'm scowling too much these days. That's no fault of mine though. No wonder it's so easy for good guys to go to the 'dark side'.

"They're kinda cute," Urahara commented as we watched the air smoothened out after the rift had been closed. I gagged for the sake of drama.

"Eww! Please don't tell me you're a pedophile!" I yelled at him with mock-horror, while wagging a finger in his direction. "Touch my fraccions and you die!"

"Hahaha, no worries. I value my life," he said and we ascended to his normal shop grounds. I scrutinized his laughing face.

"You... You don't mind?" I asked.

"Mind?" he asked. I recognized the tanuki-face he wore immediately, because I often wore it too.

"We were four advanced hollows in your shop. Do you really not mind our presence. Jinta's reaction seems the most normal," I said and gestured to where the others were staring at us. Tessai and Ururu had blank stoic faces while Jinta looked quite freaked out.

"Well, you haven't given me a reason to throw you out yet, have you? Besides, you're part shinigami and part human too. If you trust your fraccions, I suppose I could trust them too," Urahara replied, still smiling, but sounding a little more serious. Then he switched back to his nonsense mode: "And they are really cute!"

"Beware of their cuteness," I mock-warned him. "Even confetti can kill you."

Then I got out of my body and left, heard a bewildered "Hah?" behind me, and grinned to myself and opened a senkaimon with my sword. Back to soul society I go... With a report to write... Sigh.

...

By the time the school hols ended, I had perfected what I now called the Ichimaru-Gin-face. In fact, I like to consider it a powerful and useful technique that keeps most unwanted people away (though the ones I do not want the most are usually the annoying ones that do not care how much killer intent I have).

I learned it from the fox himself, who asked me if I wanted any birthday present. So I asked him to teach me the trick to his fox-face. Surprisingly, he agreed, though with much amusement and laughter. I had always wondered how he see things when he closes his eyes like that all the time, and I told him so. He seemed to find it very funny. I don't know why.

The majority of the people I know did not like the idea of two people walking around with fox-faces. Which made it all the more fun. I originally wanted him to teach me only because I was curious, then when I realized just how interesting people react to such a face, I started using it more often.

"One Ichimaru Gin is enough," Toshiro growled at me once. "We don't need two around."

From then on, I'd drop the face whenever I faced Toshiro. I liked dropping it one second after we see each other, to make sure he sees it before I wear my normal face. Just to tease him a bit. I think Kenpachi and Byakuya were a little irritated by it too... And Ikkaku and Renji. Yachiru didn't mind at all, and neither did Yumichika. Hisagi had no comments, though I think he looked weirded out the first time I showed my Ichimaru-Gin-face. I was told that I had imitated the face quite well.

The first time I tried it was hard. The smiling part was easy. I was good at smiles, smirks and grins. But the eyes were difficult. I was required to close my eyes approximately three-quarter way while I grinned. This allows me to still see, but my lashes would cover whatever part of my eyes that could still be seen, so it'd actually look like my eyes were fully closed. The real problem was keeping my eyes like that the whole time. I'd often get the urge to open my eyes, and I must say, my eyelids got tired after a day's of practice. Still, I succeeded in the end. I got used to seeing like that, and once I got used to it, it wasn't really hard. It's surprising how much one can still see without one's eyes fully opened.

I don't wear the Ichimaru-Gin face very often, but often enough. I certainly do not wear it all the time like he does since it's his face, but I enjoyed using it. Since it's his trademark face, I did, in all seriousness, ask him for permission to use it. He accused me of giving him a stomachache at the end of the week because he wasn't used to laughing so much so often. It was quite irritating though... Every time we met, he'd laugh. Reeaaally irritating. But that's Gin for you.

On his birthday, I asked him if he wanted a prezzie. After all, his present had been quite useful. Each time a person makes a comment about me and my bankai or my skills (which they think I can't hear), I'd turn to them and flash them the fox face and they'd freeze. Gin asked me for a surprise. So I asked him if he wanted a pet. He'd look quite curious at that and said he didn't mind.

I found Fuyu playing with Yachiru near my sleeping quarters, and told the two of them about my idea. They weren't pleased, until I told them that there was no reason why they couldn't play with each other any other time. So I placed Fuyu in a silver box with holes on it's lid, and tied the box with a loose ribbon. Then I left Fuyu in Gin's office in the 3rd Division compound with instructions to behave when necessary.

Yachiru and I snuck out (we had snuck in too) after that and returned to our Division compounds. I had left no note with Fuyu other than his name, because I assumed Gin would know who the fox was from. And knowing Fuyu well enough, I had no doubt that by the time Gin finds his prezzie, the fox would have miraculously managed to escape from the box and wreak mischief in the room. Yes, I think the two of them would get along fine.

"You gave Fuyu away?" Kenpachi sounded surprised when Yachiru complained to him about her lost companion. "To who?"

I merely gave him the Ichimaru-Gin face. "Who else? It was his birthday yesterday after all."

"I should've known," Kenpachi groaned. "You play with foxes too much. Say, won't you miss him?"

"Fuyu? Well, I'd see him every time I pass by the 3rd Division compounds, won't I? Besides, I'm sure that fox will probably come back to find Yachiru if he gets too lonely there... Though I highly doubt he'd be lonely, what with that other fox around," I replied casually. Yeah, I guess I'll miss Fuyu's company a bit... He had stayed with me for a year now, but I'll probably see him around quite often anyways. I had been contemplating letting Gin have him for a while now and this was the perfect opportunity.

The next day, when passed by the area near the 3rd Division compounds, I noticed people muttering here and there. Their mutterings were softer and didn't seem to be about me. Then when the 3rd Division buildings came into sight, I saw Gin and Kira walk out. Gin saw me and waved cheerily. I waved back, then continued to stare at his shoulder.

Fuyu gave a short cheerful yip when he saw me. He was perched on Gin's shoulder like Yachiru. I mock-scowled at the fox (the literal one).

"Hebi-kun, is that a cat or a fox on your shoulder?" I asked when we got nearer. Seriously, the cub was way too influenced by Yachiru.

"Ah, Neko-chan, meet Fuyu. Fuyu's my new pet fox," Gin said when we met. "An anonymous person left him in my office yesterday."

"Made quite a mess for a small creature like him," Kira added. I stared at them both. Judging from their faces, it was clear that Gin knew who left the fox in his office, while Kira had no clue.

"Oh dear, do you think it was intentional?" I asked Gin innocently. He smirked at me.

"Probably not," he replied. "In any case, I liked your present."

"What did you give him?" asked Kira. Was he that clueless or was he acting? I stared at him for a while. No. Just clueless.

"I gotta go, so why don't you ask your captain?" I suggested and breezed past them, laughing. "Oh, and you're welcome, Hebi-kun."

...

My school terms came and went. Soon, I was enrolled into Karakura High, with a short hols in between my last junior high term and my new school year. I was getting very very used to shinigami life.

Ever since the hollow incident with my fraccions, the shinigami captains have been discussing about me... Again. I had handed in the report which was mostly the truth though I left out the part about my fraccions. I just said that I met three really strong, vegeterian-looking humanoid hollows, which I defeated. More or less true... Maybe a bit twisted, but mostly true.

Aizen had told me it was a test. After I met my fraccions, I had assumed he meant a personal test of his. I didn't know he actually meant a proper soul-society-test. Apparently, whatever they concluded from my report (and I can't believe they just trust whatever I wrote in there) and some other stuff convinced them that I deserved to be promoted. Or... It could just be Aizen playing his little game again.

I told them thankyouverymuch, I'm happy with my fourth seat arrangements in the 11th Division, and they ignored me. Even Kenpachi thought I should get a higher seat. Then to my surprise, the captains started arguing about which Division I should transfer to. Well, since they're captains, their arguments were civil enough, except for the louder and rasher one's like Kenpachi. I didn't know why they were arguing though. Quite stupid, really. A waste of time and energy. Just think of all the paperwork that needs to be done.

I left the captains be, and they were still quarreling when my hols ended. It became quite amusing. They'd 'quarrel' over tea, or on the street, or down a hallway or corridor. Them and their power games. I didn't really care about which squad I'd end up in, though I really hoped that I wouldn't end up in the first, second or fifth squad. And I hoped that they'd finally see how unnecessary this whole thing was and let me stay in the 11th Division.

As soon as this fiasco started, I got confronted by Ikkaku. Then he challenged me to a spar. I defeated him, as I have done for the past few times we sparred, and he frowned so intensely at me that it made me alarmed. When I asked him about it, he said that third seat should belong to me. I remember saying "Really?" to him then I left to find Yachiru. I hated awkward conversations like that.

When I first started out as a shinigami-in-training, I had aimed pretty high because I was frustrated at the fact that I, a Segunda Espada, was just a lowly shinigami student. Stupid ego. Now, I found that fourth seat was actually quite a high enough position for me, and I liked it. I mean, I could've stayed as an unseated member, or maybe got a two-digit seat number. Four was quite good.

I told all this to Urahara the next time I visited him and he laughed his head off. First Gin, now him. What was wrong with these people? I'm perfectly serious here.

Then I asked Urahara about my friends and how they could see my fraccions. He said that it must be due to my high reiatsu awakening their dormant but also high reiatsu. In other words? Turning them into hollow-magnets. I asked Urahara if I could do anything about it, and he just told me to kill the hollows before they attack my friends.

So how do I explain a seven foot tall monster with a funny mask and a large gaping hole in it's chest, crashing through a shopping mall? And how am I supposed to leave my body to fight the hollow in front of my friends without explaining all about shinigami?

"Sooo... You're saying that thing was a bad spirit," Hana-chan said. She stared at me skeptically. We were sitting in the park, eating ice cream and taking a well-deserved break after getting rid of a hollow.

I shrugged. "Yeah, well, more like spirits that have gone bad."

"Gone over to the dark side?" Akirai declared. "May the Force be with you!"

Hanaha and I stared at the Star Wars fan and sighed. Then Hana-chan glanced back at me. "Then what was the thing you shot at it?"

"Uh... It's something I learned from one of my relatives. It's a family ability thing," I said hastily. Out of pure desperation, I had shot a Byakurai (Hado no. 4) at the hollow, wounding it. It quickly disappeared after that, no doubt to Hueco Mundo to recover or something. It'd probably come back later, but I'd deal with it then.

"Are you guys exorcists?" Hana-chan asked. Exorcists?

"Kind of... But we don't call ourselves 'exorcists'," I replied.

"Then what do you call yourselves then?" Akirai asked. Oh dear... What will my friends say if they find out the truth... And that I've been lying to them?

"Uh... shinigami...?" Oh kami, I just said the truth! A truth that does not make sense, judging from my friends' what-the-hell faces. Time for damage control. "Our physical bodies are human, but our souls are shinigami... Wait, that doesn't make much sense either..."

"Never mind. I don't think the supernatural is supposed to make sense anyway," Hana-chan laughed. Aki-chan was laughing too. There must be some sort of laughing virus going around here.

"Why are you guys laughing?" I asked.

"Because you seemed so uncomfortable when you were trying to explain yourself," Aki-chan said. "We're laughing at your-"

"-Pain?" I sighed. I should've known. If I were in their shoes, I'd probably be doing the same. Next time though, I should try and ask Urahara if he has any artificial souls that don't act weird when inserted into a body. If he could get one for me, all this would be so much easier.

* * *

**That's all for now~ Next up: the pre-Bleach arc ends and the actual Bleach stuff begins~ Please review! Comments, critiques, compliments and even flames are welcomed~ **


	24. Chapter 24: New Beginnings

**Oh this is just sad... my chapters are getting shorter! This chapter is like, half the length of my previous chapters! *panic* And I can't say quality over quantity because... never mind. I shall not rant here... just hope you like the chapter more than I do. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach! Now on with the story~!**

* * *

Chapter 24: New Beginnings

_"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."_

"Eh? Why are you staring at me for so long?" the girl asked with a slight frown.

I continued to stare anyways. Long black hair tied into a ponytail. Violet eyes. Fair skin. Average in height and size. Unremarkable figure. Shirt, jacket, belt, shorts, shoes. In other words, she looked exactly like me... Other than the fact that her face had an expression of pure innocent and sincere confusion (a face that I've never succeeded in having). And the fact that she was wearing clothes of a colour combi that I would never wear: yellow shirt, orange hoodie jacket, navy blue denim shorts, yellow socks, bright blue and orange sports shoes.

"What on earth are you _wearing_?" I demanded. I leave this girl alone for one day and here she is, messing up my wardrobe and buying new unnecessary stuff with my money.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" the girl demanded, innocent face gone, replaced by irritation.

"Blue, yellow and orange?" I questioned. Seriously. I hated that color combi more than I disliked pink. But before I could comment any further, the girl squealed and I could practically see her eyes turn into sparkly diamonds. I turned to see what she had spotted: a poster advertising for some Pirates of the Caribbean merchandise.

"Kami! I must get that Jack Sparrow plushie!" she shrieked. My brain automatically went into panic emergency mode. I can hear the sirens wailing and red lights flashing.

...

"Freakin' hell! Urahara?! What-Who is this?!" I yelled at the ex-shinigami as I burst into his shop, dragging the girl behind me by her hoodie.

"Oh, I see you've met your new artificial soul. A modsoul to be precise," Urahara replied with a chuckle. "You did ask for a more normal one to replace you when you go off hollow-hunting."

I stared at the girl who was still fangirl-ing over a fictitious person.

"You-You call this _normal_?" I demanded. "And what's a modsoul?"

"Ah... A modsoul is an artificial soul originally designed to aid the shinigami in fighting. So it is likely that she has some sort of... enhanced ability..."

"An enhanced ability..." I stared at Urahara. The modsoul was bad enough as it is, but it just had to have an enhanced ability?

"All of these modsouls are actually supposed to be destroyed by the shinigami," Urahara commented in a more serious tone. "This is one of the few surviving ones. So if you decide that you don't want it, you can just return it to me and I'll get you a typical artificial soul.

I glanced at the girl again. She had gone silent and was staring back at me. The sudden change was shocking, from crazy fangirl to expressionless statue. I studied her for a long time as the silence grew uncomfortable. Then I heard Urahara begin to hum, and when I turned to see what he's up to, I saw that he was rummaging through a box of soul candy dispensers.

"What are you doing?" I asked, feeling suspicious.

"Looking for a Ginnosukem variety of soul candy. Last time I sold you a Chappy, because that was the most popular around, but perhaps an artificial soul with a slyer personality would suit you better," Urahara said. Chappy, as I remembered was a very bunny-ish artificial soul. I had no idea what a Ginnosukem was like. Then the implications of Urahara's words came to me.

"Hold it! I didn't say I didn't want her!" I protested as I gestured to the girl... Or rather, the modsoul in my body.

Urahara glanced at me. "Oh? So you're keeping her?"

"Yes, I suppose..." I sighed. This was going to be troublesome, but I had no intention of... Letting this modsoul get destroyed, especially when I've witnessed how human she seemed to act. It'd be like killing a life.

"Well then, do you need anything else?" asked Urahara.

"Nah," I replied and dragged the girl out of the shop, onto the streets and back to my apartment.

She was silent the whole journey... Creepily silent, but I refused to turn to see what kind of expression she might be having. Instead, I tried to focus on what I'd have to do once I get back to my apartment. First, I'd have to teach her how to behave more like me. Second, I'd have to find somewhere to keep her when she's not in my body.

Back in my apartment, I went to my room and searched for a soft toy. It was just an experiment; I didn't know if it would work, though I had a feeling it would. I found a furry toy husky with glassy blue eyes in my old toy box and thought it would suit her well.

"Alright," I said, stood up and turned around. The girl was standing by my bedroom door, her face still expressionless. Hmm... I'm gonna have to give her a name too.

"I have decided. Your name shall be _Perrito_. It's Spanish for 'puppy'," I announced to her, who stared back at me blankly. Alright. This was getting irritating.

"Hey, are you gonna stone there all day?" I asked. She blinked. Finally, a response.

"Stone?"

"Oh. Uh... My friends and I use the word to describe the act of uh... Acting like a stone. Statue. Yeah, you get what I mean," I explained. Yes, we sometimes change the meaning of words to our liking. Most of the time, it's Aki-chan's fault.

"You really aren't going to..." she trailed off. Fed up, I stuff my hand into her mouth, down her throat and extracted the soul candy from the body... Momentarily forgetting that it was my body that I was treating roughly. Then I inserted the soul candy into the toy husky and it actually came to life!

First, it wiggled it's snout, then it's ears, then it's legs, body and tail. Finally, it talked. "There are no mites on this... Are there?"

Awkward moments over, I assured her there aren't any... Though I made a mental note to dump her into the washing machine later... Just in case.

...

My first day of high school was relatively uneventful. I met a ridiculous idiot who was freaking out about Kurosaki and some guy called Chad coming to Karakura High. Apparently there's been rumors about those two joining the yakuza, smuggling drugs, bleaching hair (come to think of it, was Kurosaki's hair color natural?) and being very good fighters. Hanaha, Akirai and I spent a good long time wondering if we should introduce ourselves as street gang fighters just for the hell of it.

In the end, we passively went to check the class lists, ignoring the Keigo idiot and his friend Mizuiro. First, I noticed that Inoue and Tatsuki were in the same class as I, 1-3. Hana-chan and Aki-chan were in 1-4 though. Then I glanced over to the list of boys in my class and saw Kurosaki's name there along with Chad, Keigo and Mizuiro.

Then when Keigo started freaking out on a whole new level when he realized that Kurosaki and Chad were in the same class as them, the two of them (speak of the devil and he appears) came crashing through, kicking (Ichigo) and punching (Chad) two other guys in the process. Talk about grand entrance.

Then we noticed that we were surrounded by a group of gangster-y students. We didn't recognize any of them, so we decided that introductions would be in order if they tried to do anything funny. It turned out that these students were here because of Kurosaki and Chad, and one of them (the leader?) was called Oushima Reichi, another guy from our class. Then Mizuiro introduced himself to Kurosaki and Chad. So the introductions began (without any attacking... Yet) and the gangster students seemed amused at the presence of three girls. So, our reputation was non-existent off the streets eh?

One of the gangster students began to bully Keigo, and I must admit with much shame that it was amusing to watch. We didn't encourage bullying of course... Just that Keigo was... Funny. So Kurosaki ended up saving Keigo's ass and the three of us girls just stood back and enjoyed the performance. Good. Kicking ass can wait till the next day. Starting a bad reputation on the first day of school isn't healthy after all.

Somehow or other, Keigo, Mizuiro, Ichigo, Chad and I became friends. It had been amusing when Keigo found out that despite being a girl, I could fight well, just like Tatsuki. Though let's just say it didn't give my junior high school a very good image after that.

Well, we got to know one another better, and I must say, our class is pretty fun, what with Tatsuki and Orihime, Ichigo, Chad, Keigo and Mizuiro around. Some of our other classmates were interesting too... But maybe it's my imagination, but there's this guy called Ishida Uryuu that seem to have a strange reiatsu. He's a loner and most of the class ignore him or fail to notice him around, so I left him be.

Sometime after I entered Karakura High, Renji and I got promoted (unofficially, cuz the promotion ceremony will only be held one month later). Renji became the lieutenant of the 6th Division and I was became a lieutenant of our division because the higher-ups insisted on promoting me and I insisted on staying with the 11th Division. I don't think Aizen was very pleased as I got the feeling he wanted me to be his lieutenant alongside Hinamori. The 11th Division was very happy that I chose to stay in the division though, and Yachiru was more than glad to share the role of lieutenant with me. So the fourth seat was left empty again, and Ikkaku and Yumichika still treated me like an equal because happily ignore my now-higher status, which was fine by me.

I was later informed that a shinigami called Kuchiki Rukia was going on a one-month mission in the human world (though why they needed to send a shinigami to Karakura when I was there, I had no idea. I wasn't complaining though. More shinigami means less work.) Kuchiki was very annoyed when I burst into his office that day. He was speaking to the captain of the 13th Division when I dashed in, yelling, "Kuchiki-taichou! You have a younger sister?!" I got thrown out unceremoniously of the office by the captain a few moments later.

Then I went to do my research and found out that Renji and Rukia were childhood friends, and that Rukia was the only member of the Shinigami Women's Association to approve of Yachiru's cell phone design. Renji told me to keep a lookout of her in the human world, but not to tell her of his promotion yet.

...

One morning, I came to school late (Yachiru forgot to wake me up and Perrito made a fuss about getting stuffed into my school bag) and found Mizuiro saying that Ichigo may not come to school because a truck had crash through the side of their house the night before. Then Ichigo showed up late and slammed his school bag into Tatsuki's head, announcing that no, he wasn't dead.

Then Mizuiro introduced a new transfer student to us. She had this funny smile on her face-the fake pleasant kind (no, not the Aizen one) that I know I sometimes wear on my face. I thought nothing of it until Mizuiro introduced her as Kuchiki Rukia. I nearly fell out of my seat at that.

I stared at her hard and thought I saw some family resemblance to Kuchiki-taichou though I couldn't be sure... Actually, I'd say she looks a little like me: short black hair, violet eyes, fair skin... I was approximately a head taller than her though (I have grown taller! Take that, Kitsune-taichou!). And the bigger question was: What was she doing here? I checked the date and realized that her mission should be ending soon... Perhaps in a week or so. That did not explain why she's in a gigai and attending class at a normal high school. Why Karakura High and why our class anyway? Coincidence? Well, she certainly gave no sign of recognizing me... And I certainly don't remember us meeting before today.

Ichigo dragged Rukia away from class sometime later. They were gone for a really long time, which made me suspect that there was something going on between them. Everything was so damn suspicious. A shinigami shouldn't be in a gigai unless he or she needs to blend in with the human world... And why would Rukia need to do so? Did she get weakened by a hollow? What has she got to do with Ichigo? Yeah, I know that Ichigo is spiritually aware (caught him talking to a ghost before)... So did he meet her before today, perhaps in her shinigami form? Should I confront her?

Twenty minutes passed and the two of them had yet to return. Then I received a hollow alert on my shinigami cell phone (which I designed myself, no thanks to Yachiru's horrible bunny idea). The hollow was going to appear in a park where I remembered seeing a kid ghost before. I briefly wondered if I should check it out, but decided to wait another five minutes. Was this my job or Rukia's? I wasn't in the human world on an official mission like her... I just come to school in the day and go back to Soul Society at night... Come to think about it, when Rukia and I aren't going about dealing with the Hollows here, does Urahara do the job? I don't think I've actually seen him kill a Hollow before though.

Five minutes later, the alert disappeared. So Rukia must have gotten rid of the Hollow then. But how could she have done so with Ichigo? Unless they separated, of course. My question was answered not too long later, and along with it, more questions came. A classmate found Ichigo's body lying on the floor in some deserted part of the school near our classroom. I sensed no reiryoku in the body. In fact, I thought I could feel Ichigo's higher-than-usual reiatsu coming from somewhere in the direction of... The park. Where the Hollow should have been. With Rukia.

I needed to find Urahara ASAP.

...

"URAHARA!" I yelled as I marched into his shop, annoying the hell out of Jinta.

"Ah... Long time no see, Yoruka-chan!" Urahara greeted me, with his usual carefree smile on his face. I felt my face twitch.

"Since when did you start adding '-chan' to my name?" I demanded. He wasn't the only one of course. Yachiru, Matsumoto (Cheshaa-chan), Neliel (Sen-chan), Gin (Neko-chan) and Ikkaku (Confetti-chan) does it too, but the less the merrier.

"Since ten seconds ago," replied Urahara cheerfully. "How can I help you?"

"Did Kuchiki Rukia come by here or meet you recently?" I asked him. He continued to smile though a thoughtful expression entered his eyes.

"Yes... I found her late last night, wearing the white clothes of one who has lost most of her powers. I offered her a gigai." he finally answered. "Why?"

"She's in my school attending the same class as I. What on earth is going on?" I asked, running a hand though my hair. This shinigami business was getting frustrating.

"Well, it would seem that she transferred her power to a certain Kurosaki Ichi-"

"_WHAAAT?!_" Did he just say what I thought he just said? "Is that possible?"

"Yes. Risky, not very legal... but not impossible. And somehow, Kurosaki-kun must have taken more of her power than she intended to give him, and she is left with close to none," Urahara proceeded to explain, rather calmly.

"Okaaay... Great. Now what?"

"Now what?" Urahara looked at me, confused.

"Do I inform the Gotei 13 about this? Or do I keep this to myself? Do I-Has she been informed about me?" I asked.

"What you do with the information you have is up to you. You are a seated member of a division, and you have your duties and responsibilities, do you not?" Urahara said. "I don't think she's aware of your presence here though... I do not know why."

"Wise words huh?" I snorted. "Well, I don't think many of the shinigami know of my existence. I'm as obscure as any unseated shinigami... Only the captains, lieutenants and a few seated members know me. I shall ask Kenpachi about this tonight, though I think I shan't say anything about Ichigo and Rukia yet... You said it's not legal? I don't want to get them into unecessary trouble."

"As I said, it's up to you, though I approve of your choice," Urahara said, sounding pleased.

"Hmm... So should I let Rukia know who I am? Should I help them out?" I asked. My question was met with Urahara's too-happy smile. I sighed. "Why did I expect you to give me a proper answer anyway? You're almost as bad as Hebi-kun."

"Who?" Urahara looked amused.

"Ichimaru Gin. Oh and while we're on the topic of names... Just to let you know, I've named the modsoul Perrito," I replied. Urahara looked even more amused, though another look crossed his face. An analytical look I've seen Aizen wear before and naturally, a look I didn't like.

"Perrito, hm? Have you found out her ability yet?" Urahara asked. I pretended to think about it.

"Well... Her acting skills are quite good... I've heard her bark like a dog before. Quite realistic actually. And she can act like me surprisingly well too. Then there's her bargaining skills... She managed to get a limited edition Yoda plushie for half the price... And of course there's her annoying acrobatic skills where I have to spend half an hour trying to catch her," I said with a frown. The irritating puppy. "But I think her real ability is in high-speed healing and regeneration."

The first time I noticed it was when she failed to dodge a knife I threw at her when I got fed up with her fangirlism. When I removed the blade from the soft toy, the cloth, fake fur and everything immediately grew back. There was another time when the husky lost a leg because of a superglue incident. I planned on making another one for her (though my sewing skills sucked) but there was no need. The leg grew back, stuffing and all, as good as new. Her regeneration ability was only fully confirmed when she was in my body, got attacked by a hollow and fortunately regrew a hand when it got eaten. What I'd do if the modsoul's idiocy resulted in the lost of a limb of mine. So I trained Perrito in parkour and whatever martial arts I knew to avoid such a risky incident again. It was comforting to know that whatever Perrito did in my body, my body will still be fine.

"That's fortunate," Urahara commented. "But what if she loses your head? Will she be able to regenerate your head back to how it once was?"

Seriously? "I just hope that never happens," was all I replied. In fact, I was giving her only nine chances (what can I say? I was inspired by the nine lives of a cat). Lose a limb of mine an tenth time and I'm getting rid of her.

"_Ja_, I shall be going now. I'll come by again tomorrow," I said and he waved goodbye. I paused at the door, thought about it and looked back with a grin. "Oh, and by the way, I'll officially be a lieutenant in one week's time."

His smile, while still on his face, was frozen. His expression was priceless... though I wonder why...

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**That's all for now... I'll probably be updating soon. In a week's time or less. Anyway... please review! **


	25. Chapter 25: Meetings

**So I've gotten my OC into a big mess that I myself am still wondering how to get her out of. Oh well, that's the fun in writing this, I guess :) Any suggestions are welcome, my dear reviewers! Hope you like this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own... What kind of name is _Bleach_ anyway?**

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Chapter 25: Meeting

_"Everything is something you decide to do, and there is nothing you have to do."_

I asked Kenpachi and the other shinigami I met during the night. All of them (Hisagi, Kenpachi, Yachiru, Toshiro) gave me the same answer: Rukia was in the human world for a solo mission, so she wasn't told about me. I was there as a human student, not on any mission, so I wasn't supposed to be involved with her. However, they also said that should the two of us meet, it is up to me to reveal myself to her and help her, or to ignore her. I didn't tell them I've already met her though.

Before school the next day, I dropped by Urahara's shop to tell him about what the captains and lieutenants said about it. Once again, he gave me no helpful advice, though he did inform me about an incident that had happened that night. Apparently, Orihime's brother had turned into a hollow and attacked her and Tatsuki, and her soul got detached from her body. Ichigo arrived with Rukia and 'saved the day'. I sometimes wondered how Urahara knows these things.

When I went to school that day, I found Orihime and Tatsuki giving Akirai, Hanaha, Michiru, Ryo, Chizuru and some other classmate a ridiculous story about what happened the night before, involving a sumo wrestler (or was it a yakuza gunman?) breaking into her house and shooting a bazooka at her wall). I must say, the memory chikan is quite interesting, since it is able to substitute a memory with another... And if it's based on the limits of one's imagination... I didn't expect Tatsuki's imagination to be as wild as Orihime's... Well, at least Orihime was able to escape from this incident relatively unscathed. After all, the first time I got detached from my body, my chain broke and I ended up becoming a hollow. I wouldn't want that to happen to Orihime.

I spent the first lesson thinking about Rukia. I decided not to tell her about me yet, and wait until the right 'opportunity' comes or when it is absolutely necessary. Hana-chan and Aki-chan came to find me during lunch break and asked me about Orihime's funny story. I had to explain to them that the story wasn't actually true and was actually part of a shinigami's damage control. They pretty much told me that if I had done the same to them the time we met a hollow on a shopping trip, I'd be quite dead... Perhaps not these exact words but their I-approve-of-you smile was more a threat than a compliment... I'd say they're getting bad influence from someone and I know exactly who. Should I copyright my smiles?

Sometime later, the day after I got my lieutenant badge (though I decided, as a precaution of sorts, not to wear it until Rukia returns to Soul Society) when I was hanging out with Mizuiro, we found Ichigo and Rukia having lunch together at some corner in the school. I overheard Rukia telling Ichigo that she had top grades in the demon arts and hoped that Mizuiro didn't hear that.

Mizuiro commented on how Ichigo and Rukia seemed to be getting along very well and they started a conversation about Ichigo and how much he cared about the impression he gives others. I just watched Rukia struggle to fit a straw into a drink with amusement. Then Mizuiro happily made proper introductions of himself and Ichigo interrupted him by warning Rukia that Mizuiro's hobby was womanising. Well, the thing was, as Mizuiro finally admitted later, he was only interested in older females... I think only Ichigo, Rukia and I understood why Ichigo was warning someone who was supposedly our age.

Keigo joined us not too long after, and the only person missing was Chad. Hanaha and Akirai were hanging out with their own classmates, so they weren't going to join us. Keigo went all drama and soon, misunderstandings happened... Which involved Ichigo asking Rukia out and the like.

Then Ooshima the bully came along and kicked Keigo. Apparently his suspension had been lifted, so he was back again, causing trouble as usual. And while Keigo tried to pacify Ooshima and stop him from trying to attack Ichigo, Ichigo had to go and insult him and egg him on of course.

"I'm gonna kick yur arse!" declared Ooshima. All of us stared and I couldn't resist it.

"Uh... could you repeat that? _Yur arse_? Seriously? Was that an accent you were trying to imitate or is that how bad you really speak?" Okay, so I wasn't usually the mean insulting type if person, but hey, this idiot was annoying... and funny.

Before said idiot could attack us for insulting him, Chad came along and sent him flying, so it was all good. Then we noticed that Chad seemed to be injured. He told us he got hit by a steel beam and collided with a motorcycle... Both of which is quite a feat. The fact remains that he was still alive and I think that was pretty amazing too. I mean, I know I would probably survive those too, but only because of my shinigami/arrancar body and because repeated duels with my fellow division members tend to toughen one's body quite a bit.

Then what was more surprising was that the guy on the motorcycle was seriously injured so Chad was late cuz he was sending the poor dude to the hospital. Anyone see anything wrong with what I just said? But my interest in what Chad's body was made of was almost automatically pushed aside when Chad introduced us to a supposedly cursed parakeet who calls himself Shibata Yuuichi. He was pale yellow with pink cheeks.

"Chad... Where did you get that parakeet?" Ichigo asked. Rukia was still struggling with the straw and by then, I was torn between helping her and watching her struggle some more (hey, I never knew sticking a straw into a drink was so difficult... I had better teach my division members some modern day stuff before they become entertainment for someone else.)

"Yesterday..." Chad began, then promptly gave up on trying to explain himself because, as Keigo put it, 'it was too much work'... though that was a pretty lame excuse if you ask me. And so... an argument about Chad's bad conversation habits started. I was just sitting back and enjoying the show when I overheard Rukia telling Ichigo not to worry about the parakeet because the soul inside it wasn't evil, but could become a hollow if left alone for too long (hey Gin, I haven't forgotten that incident yet.) Hmm... Should I advice them to be more discreet in their conversation? Well, we'll see...

The next morning, Ichigo came rushing into the classroom asking if Chad had come to school. I had just arrived too, a little earlier than Ichigo, but when I checked, Chad wasn't around, which was weird because he's usually early. Then Ichigo dashed out of the room in such a hurry that had me worried. Just as I saw our sensei walk into class, I decided to follow him. So I swiftly shunpo-ed out of class without anyone noticing. Along the way, I took out Perrito from my school bag and wrestled the modsoul out from the toy husky. After I popped the modsoul into my mouth and detached myself from my body, I sent an annoyed Perrito back to class while I sped on, faster now that I didn't have my human body to slow me down.

I followed Ichigo, making sure to keep myself a safe distance away and suppressing my reiatsu to lower than a normal human's level. It wasn't hard because his speed could never match up to mine while I have shunpo on my side. I saw Rukia meet up with Ichigo along the way and from their conversation, it seems like Chad had been attacked by a hollow and they were investigating it. But the hollow was currently in hiding and according to Rukia, there was no information about the hollow from soul society. I checked my cell phone to be sure, and yep, no hollow alert... Not that I needed it much. Being part hollow has it's perks.

All of a sudden, Ichigo stopped in his tracks and went silent. I watched as ribbons of reiryoku seemed to appear in the air and Ichigo grabbed the one belonging to the spirit in the parakeet and they followed it. So... Ichigo could find reiraku eh? Not bad. He seems to be developing his shinigami abilities at a very fast rate... Maybe even faster than me. I sometimes wonder about this whole shinigami thing. Was it possible for someone to just have the talent to be a shinigami? I still don't even know how I, a human-turned-hollow-turned-human, became a shinigami.

We caught up with Chad pretty soon and when he spotted us, he started to run away from us. However, before we could follow him, we spotted Karin, Ichigo's younger sister, leaning by the street, looking very sick. Now which idiot who let her out of school like that? Rukia convinced Ichigo to take Karin home and for a moment, I had to consider who should I follow. Well, since Rukia was following Chad, the spirit and likely, the Hollow, following her would probably be better. So I did. They were probably going to meet up later anyways.

As we were following Chad, I suddenly felt the presence of a Hollow. Then I saw a Hollow dash in front of me and attempted to attack Rukia. I watched from afar as Rukia faced the Hollow, using a Soukatsui (Hado no. 33) with the complete incantation. But due to her weakened powers, the Hollow didn't receive a single scratch from the kido spell. It attacked her once more... Not biting her, but simply knocking her with one of it's... Uh... Limbs? Anyways, it wasn't looking good. When I saw it strangling Rukia, I nearly acted. I said 'nearly', because Chad came back and punch the Hollow in it's jaw.

It wasn't that Chad could see the Hollow, as we found out later. He could hear them though, so he merely had to follow the voice of the Hollow to hit it. Then the Hollow took to the air, but Chad was not deterred. He merely uprooted a nearby telephone pole and swung it in the direction of the Hollow. Have I ever mentioned how crazy this guy seemed? A telephone pole? Seriously? Just how strong was he?

Chad swung the telephone pole down and sent the Hollow crashing down to the ground. While it lay on the ground, Chad and Rukia walked up towards it, telling it that someone was going to come along and deal with it soon. But the Hollow merely laughed.

"Have you ever wondered... How I managed to devour two shinigami before this?" I blinked at his statement. I must have missed something earlier... But I had no time to ponder it's words as I sensed a sudden surge in Hollow reiatsu. Then dozens of Hollows appeared before me, blocking my view of Rukia and Chad (I was perched atop another telephone pole some distance away). Crap.

Rukia and Chad quickly came back into view as the Hollows overpowered them and pushed them to the ground. I didn't have to worry though, because Chad proved to be quite adequate in dealing with the Hollows. He easily threw the ones on his back off, then following the voice of the main Hollow, swung a fist at him. Then he kicked the Hollows off Rukia's back. But then the main Hollow took to the air again.

Rukia came up with a ridiculous but probably feasible plan, and they executed it. Basically, Chad launched Rukia into the air with his superhuman strength and Rukia advanced on the Hollow in the air. But she was then attacked by a tiny Hollow that was perched on the main Hollow's body. Rukia fell as the mini Hollow spat something onto her and Chad caught her. The spit turned out to be a bunch if slimy leeches. Then the leeches exploded.

"Surprised? Those leeches are my targets, miniature bombs. They only explode in reaction to the sound of my tongue," the Hollow explained and I saw that the Hollow had a strange tongue that looked like a vibrating tuning fork. I frowned. Things weren't looking good. If Ichigo doesn't turn up soon, I'd have to step in.

The next thing the Hollow did was to reveal the caged parakeet that he had gotten while Chad and Rukia were distracted. I saw a leech-spitting Hollow perched on top of the birdcage as Rukia got up and ran towards it, dodging flying streams of leeches as she went. She wasn't fast enough though, and got caught by more leeches which exploded, causing her to bleed. And that's when I thought, that's it. I'm stepping in.

"_Enough!_" I yelled as I unsheathed my sword and jumped. Rukia, Chad and the Hollow looked up in surprised as I descended upon them. I stood protectively in front of Rukia. I don't know what relationship she has with Kuchiki-taichou, but I definitely didn't want to face his wrath if his sister gets killed because I didn't save her in time. And Renji'd probably come after my skin too. Most importantly, I couldn't just sit there and do nothing while a fellow shinigami is getting beaten up by a damn Hollow.

"Another shinigami!" exclaimed the Hollow, sounding delighted. I frowned at it.

"Sorry, playtime's over," I told him and killed several leech-spitting Hollows and their leeches with a swing of my sword. I turned to Rukia and Chad. "Maybe I should've stepped in earlier, but I thought you guys were doing fine until this beast started using those leeches... So I waited. My apologies for being late."

Then I used Utsusemi, Kaze no Ha (Empty Cicada, Wind Blade), a technique modified from Kuchiki's utsusemi, first used in my first hollow-hunting mission/lesson (A/N: refer to Chapter 14) to eliminate all the surrounding leech-spitting Hollows as well as the exploding leeches that erupted from the sliced Hollows. Once I was finished with them, I glanced at the main Hollow and smirked as I saw a figure behind it.

"And here comes another shinigami," I said as Ichigo swung his leg down on top of the Hollow, a kick that ended with a satisfying thunk and the Hollow collapsing. Then Ichigo saw me.

"Chizuki?" His eyes were so wide, I loved his surprise. "You're... You're a shinigami?"

I grinned. "Yep! Surprised? But hey, it's a small world! You and Rukia are also shinigami after all."

Before our lovely conversation could continue, the Hollow below Ichigo got up, throwing Ichigo off his head, yelling, "How long are you gonna stand on my head?!"

Ichigo landed on his feet beside me with no problem and we faced the Hollow. I glanced back at the injured Rukia. "Hey Rukia, could you use your Gokon Tekkou and eject Ichigo out of his body? Then I can heal you while Ichigo gets to practice some Hollow-killing."

Rukia, still wide-eyed, did as I instructed and I was a little surprised. I did expect a little bit of resistance as she was probably still shocked by my appearance, and it was a little disconcerting to see a classmate follow what I say so obediently. I was only used to ordering 11th Division members around, and they don't always do as they are told either.

The Hollow attacked us as we were 'distracted', but Ichigo was quick. He leapt behind the creature as the creature attacked, and Rukia caught his body while he went into his shinigami mode. I observed that Ichigo looked pretty badass with his orange hair and shinigami uniform, not to mention that giant katana he carried. I think it's one-and-a-half times bigger than mine.

So while Ichigo criticised the Hollow for making Karin cry, taking hostages etc, I brought Rukia to one side and did my best to heal her. I wasn't a professional at it... My kido grades were as bad as an 11th Division member could have, but I did get tired of bothering Unohana and her shinigami with the many injuries we 11th Division members often get from spars and duels, so I managed to hone my healing skills a bit.

Luckily, Rukia's injuries weren't too bad. Just as I finished healing her, Chad came running towards us with the parakeet and the cage in his arms. We told him to bring the parakeet to a safe place far from here, then we returned our attention to the fight.

Ichigo was getting rid of the remaining leech-spitting Hollows. I forgot to warn him that the leeches can still explode when he slices up the Hollows until it was too late. The leeches fell around Ichigo and exploded simultaneously, creating a super large explosion. Ichigo leapt out of it in time and descended in front of the Hollow, swinging his sword as he went. Just as his blade was about to cut into the Hollow, he stopped.

"One thing I want to ask you," Ichigo said to the Hollow. "The one who killed the parents of the boy inside the parakeet... Was that you?!"

Then the parakeet said something. Rukia and I glanced sharply at the parakeet. "What did you just say?"

"I said," repeated the parakeet. "I'm sorry... Everything is my fault... Because of me, you two and mister are hurt. It's because I wanted to bring my mommy back to life. I'm sorry..."

And the parakeet kept repeating his apologies while I exchanged glances with Rukia. Bring his mother back to life? That wasn't possible! The asshole who-

"Did someone tell you that there is a way?!" Rukia asked, sounding as shocked and enraged as I was.

"That's right." We turned back to the Hollow who continued speaking with a smirk. "I was the one who killed that brat's mother... It was four or five years ago, back when I was still alive."

Then the Hollow went on to explain how he was a serial killer, how he enjoyed killing the boy's mother, how desperately she had tried to protect her son, how he was about to deal the finishing blow when the boy tripped him and he fell off the balcony to his death. In revenge, he forced the boy's soul into the body of a parakeet in a cage.

"I gave him a mission," the Hollow said with a horrible laugh. "He has to run away from me in his current form for three months! If he does that, I will return his mom back to life!"

"Return to life...? You can-"

"Of course he can't! No one can!" I interrupted Ichigo. "Bloody _sonofabitch!_"

"I was just paying lip-service so that he'd go along with it and it was completely effective!" the Hollow said happily. "I would kill the humans protecting him, one after the other. Every time I killed one of them, the brat would whine about it and I'd tell him his mom is waiting for his rescue! It's fun, you know. Every time I say that line, he'd perk up and wail 'Mommy! Mommy!'"

I could barely stand it any longer... It has been a long time since I felt this angry. In fact, I hardly remember a time when I'm angry before. Ichigo attacked first, but the Hollow blocked his sword and shot a couple of leech-spitting Hollows at him. The Hollows spat out a whole load of leeches and the main Hollow laughed.

"See? Your stance is unguarded and they hit you! Now it is over!" Then he stuck out his ugly tongue to detonate the leech-bombs. I watched as Ichigo quickly rammed his leech-covered hand into the Hollow's mouth.

"Hey... I'm returning these bombs!" Ichigo said with a grin. Then when the Hollow froze, unwilling to move his long tongue to make any sound for fear it'd detonate the bombs in his mouth, Ichigo sliced off his tongue. The Hollow was enraged, but Ichigo merely went on to hack at the Hollow.

I sat back, deciding that since Ichigo was already torturing the Hollow, there was no need for me to do so. It was satisfying to hear the Hollow shriek and feel its almost-tangible fear. Ichigo mercilessly went on to slice at it to punish it for murder. Finally, he swung his sword in one big arc and sliced the Hollow's head. As the Hollow died, gigantic nightmarish double doors appeared behind the Hollow.

"What in the world is that?!" asked a shocked Ichigo.

"The Gates of Hell," I answered. "Rukia must have explained to you that the slice of a zanpakuto cleanses the sins of a Hollow... But only the sins the Hollow committed as a Hollow are cleansed."

"Those who have done terrible deeds in their lives are sent to Hell," Rukia continued. "Look. The Gates of Hell are opening."

And the Gates of Hell opened. The Hollow screamed and tried to escape but a gigantic blade impaled it. The gigantic blade belonged to a gigantic tattooed hand that emerged from the gigantic Gates. Then I caught a glimpse of a laughing face as a diabolical laughter filled the air. Then the Gates closed and disappeared.

We returned to the caged parakeet and we checked the soul of the boy within the parakeet. The chain of fate had been long disconnected and there was no way we could return the boy back to his body.

"Don't worry," Rukia reassured the boy. "Soul Society is a place where there is nothing to be afraid of! You'll never be hungry, your body feels light... It's 9 times out of 10 better than this world."

I kept my poker face on, so that my skepticism wouldn't show. Soul Society wasn't exactly paradise after all... But I guess it may be better than the human world... Personally, I think the two worlds are the same. Hueco Mundo on the other hand, is a whole different story. And high-reiatsu spirits do get hungry...

"If you go to the other world, you can see your mom," Ichigo added. "It's not possible for her to return to life here... But if you were to go over there... This time, your mom really will be waiting for you."

The parakeet looked delighted and Ichigo took out his sword. "Well then, shall we send your soul off now?"

"Y-Yeah!" the boy agreed, then he turned to Chad. "Mister... Thank you for everything. Because you carried me around, I didn't get hurt at all. Well, I should go now... Thank you very much."

Chad simply said that it was nothing then... "Yuuichi... When I die and go over there... Can I carry you around one more time?"

The boy beamed at Chad. "Sure!"

Then Ichigo sent the soul on his way. A jigokucho came and guided the soul to Soul Society.

After Chad left and it was just the three of us, there was an awkward silence. Rukia and Ichigo stared at me... While I stared back at them feeling a little sheepish for Kami knows what reason.

"Okay... So maybe it's time for a little reintroduction?" I said, breaking the silence. "As Ichigo would know, I'm Yoruka Chizuki, formerly from Mashiba Junior High. Now I'm a student at Karakura High. And I so happen to be a shinigami too."

"You're a shinigami... Since when?" Ichigo demanded. Well I suppose he must be quite surprised, since we've known each other for more than two years now.

"Since our second last year at Mashiba... Quite a long story, actually," I replied matter-of-factly, as if I was talking about the weather... Which incidentally, was very fine today.

"What are you doing here?" Rukia asked... Sounding frightened?

"What do you mean by what am I doing here? If you're asking me why I'm here here, I came to help you guys out against that Hollow. If you're asking me why I'm in Karakura instead of Soul Society, well, I have a human life too you know. I go to school here though I live in Seireitei now."

Ichigo and Rukia looked pretty confused then, but I wasn't going to give them anymore info unless they asked for it... Though I suppose it wouldn't hurt to...

I stuck out my hand to Rukia. "Anyway~ Nice meeting you, Kuchiki Rukia."

She took my hand though she was still staring at me like a zombie. I slipped a small folded piece of paper into her hand as we shook hands. I didn't know how much she has told Ichigo about Soul Society and shinigami, so the secret note was just in case she hasn't told Ichigo everything yet.

Then I waved cheerily and went on my way while the two of them continued to stand there like statues.

...

THE NOTE:

_Hey Rukia, _

_No worries, I haven't told anyone about you and Ichigo yet, so the only shinigamis who know about this are Urahara, you, me and Ichigo... And maybe Tessai. You'd better hurry and get back your shinigami powers before Soul Society comes after you though. It's been approximately a month since you arrived here, hasn't it? _

_Be careful. _

_Fellow shinigami, friend and classmate, _  
_Chizuki_

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**That's all for now! I'll be updating in another week or less... A new school year is starting soon though, so I may not be able to update as often as I like. To those who follow my other fanfic (the Naruto one), wait a little longer~ I wanna make use of inertia and momentum to finish another chapter of this fanfic first... before a writer's block comes along and ruin ****everything. **

**P.S. Please review!**


	26. Chapter 26: Modsouls

**Alright! Another chapter up! Presenting to you... The Modsoul Incident! Anyways, just wondering, are ****you guys fine with me writing like this (taking up so much time and space to write the details of incidents such as this) or would you rather me skim through the general stuff? Cuz I realise that I'm taking quite a while to reach the rukia rescue arc. Hope I haven't made you guys impatient or anything... **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, so on with the story!**

* * *

Chapter 26: Modsouls

_"The first rule of holes: When you're in one, stop digging."_

I have decided that Urahara is a good listener even though his advice are usually all 'wise' and 'roundabout' and 'cryptic-ish' that he might as well don't give any advice at all... But it wasn't like I really needed a listener until Rukia came along and created such a mess. Unfortunately, Urahara was the only one I could tell everything to, from Arrancar stuff to illegal shinigami stuff.

I told Rukia that I haven't told anyone about her and Ichigo... And that was true and still is true... And will continue to be true until someone asks me about it. After all, she should be returning to Soul Society by now, and I have heard one or two people discussing her lateness. So far, I've managed to either avoid such a discussion or feigned ignorance on the matter. But what if the day comes when Kuchiki or Renji comes and ask me about it? I could pretend I know nothing about it while no one asks me straight to the point "Have you seen Rukia in the human world?"

... And when that happens, lying would get me into serious trouble. I don't lie much... I try my best to tell the truth at all times, and when it can't be helped, half-truth or twisted truth. So, if someone asks me about Rukia, it'd be my responsibility to answer... Truthfully, and on top of that, if it's Renji or Kuchiki asking me (which will most probably happen), I can't possibly lie to them. Renji's a good friend... He probably won't forgive me if I lie to him about his childhood friend whom I'm very sure he cares about very much. And as I have probably mentioned before, I may have no idea what kind of relationship Kuchiki has with Rukia, but I'm sure he cares for her too, and I sure as hell don't wanna lose his trust or whatever strange student-teacher bond we have. And what would they do if they found out that I knew all along but chose to keep it secret? I was officially a shinigami _lieutenant_ now, complete with a limiter (not that I needed the limiter anyway) that they gave me recently. I'd be in serious crap if I got caught, not just because I'm shinigami, but because I'm a freakin _lieutenant_ too!

This is driving me crazy... And it's all Rukia's fault. As if I didn't already have problems keeping my 'A'-class secret from them (A stands for Aizen and Arrancar)... I'll probably get demoted (which sucks) or banished (then I'll have no excuse not to stand by Aizen) or killed (which is quite an easy solution if I were suicidal but I'm not). Urahara has it sooo easy... He doesn't have to avoid annoying suspicious shinigami, be it authentic, substitute or powerless ones that goes to my school!

The morning just after the parakeet in incident, I visited Urahara to continue the rant I had started the afternoon before. I was going to be late for school but I didn't care.

"It's actually quite interesting to watch you rant," Urahara commented that day. "Pity its such a rare occurrence."

I scowled at him, then in my still-irritable mood, I started searching around for something to throw at him. Then I poked my head out of the store (which was still closed as it was still early... And the only reason why Urahara was already awake at this hour was because I woke him up) and saw Ururu sweeping the floor and Jinta practicing 'baseball' with his broom. Then the two of them started arguing about housework and whether Jinta was scared of Tessai. It was hard to see what was really going on since Jinta insisted on swinging that broom around like a weapon.

"Hey, Jinta," I called out. "Since you're not using the broom to sweep the floor, could you lend it over for awhile? I need something to whack Urahara with."

I was afraid he didn't hear me when they stopped fighting and that was when I noticed Rukia standing there, stopping Jinta's wild broom. She glanced at me before commenting to Jinta, "You're the same as ever, shorty."

Then she came over. "Is the manager in?"

"Who? The green-and-white idiot? Urahara's sitting inside laughing his ass of at my misery," I told her, then turned Jinta. "Hey, are ya handing the broom over or not... Shorty?"

Jinta glared at me and handed me the broom. I led Rukia inside. We passed by Tessai who was handling some goods who started telling me it was too early for opening the store when he saw Rukia. Then Urahara came out, still chuckling, and I gave him a good whack on the head with Jinta's broom.

"Ow... Chizuki, that hurt!" Urahara muttered with a sheepish smile. I stared at him.

"It was supposed to hurt."

"Hey, g'morning, Tessai, Jinta, Ururu... And welcome, Kuchiki-san," Urahara greeted, ignoring my comment. "We've received new products from the other world just yesterday, so what would you like today?"

Then the two of them went and did their customer and shopkeeper stuff. I didn't pay them much attention, choosing to annoy Jinta instead, though my ears did prick up when I heard 'bounty rewards'.

"Bounty rewards?" I managed to keep from shrieking. "Urahara! Why didn't anyone tell me about that? I've been killing Hollows since... Oh. Whyyy?"

"What now?" Urahara sounded amused while Rukia merely stared at me blankly. I groaned.

"Yachiru must have been claiming all those bounty rewards without telling me about them! That pink-haired cheater," I complained. Yachiru has been borrowing my cell phone ever since I started my official Hollow-killing. I'm definitely asking her about this tonight.

"The lieutenant of the 11th Division and president of Shinigami's Association for Women?" asked Rukia. I nodded and conveniently forgot to enlighten her that Yachiru was no longer 'the' lieutenant of the 11th Division since there were two now.

"By the way, did my order arrive?" Rukia asked Urahara. He grinned.

"Yeah, it arrived! Ururu, go get it~!"

Then Ururu left to find whatever it was that Rukia had ordered. She returned to give Rukia an odd shaped package. I stared at it for awhile before I concluded that it must be soul candy. Rukia didn't seem very pleased.

"This was the only one available, huh?" she commented, sounding disappointed.

"Please don't say that. That one is the second most popular, so it was difficult to get," replied Urahara.

"... I understand," muttered Rukia. Second most popular? That means she must have wanted the bunny one. What was it called? Chappy, I think. Well, if my guess was correct, the soul candy would be for Ichigo. I doubt Ichigo would like a Chappy, though I have no idea what this one would be like. Can't be worse than a Chappy, right? Hmm...

"Rukia," I called after her as she was about to leave after a long awkward silence. "Are you obsessed over bunnies?"

She gave me a weird look, and said in a defensive tone, "I like bunnies."

Then she left. Good. She has yet to bring up the whole shinigami mess... On the other hand, maybe it'd be a better idea to get it done and over with. So I decided to confront her in school later that day.

...

When I reached school, Hanaha reprimanded me for being late (and Akirai insisted that my lack of punctuality was due to their prolonged absence), then I headed over to where Keigo, Chad and Mizuiro were crowded around the caged parakeet.

"It's vocabulary has gotten smaller," Mizuiro commented to me.

"Where's Ichigo and Rukia?" I asked them. Another classmate told me Rukia had come in, punched Ichigo and dragged him out of class on the excuse of bringing him to see the school nurse. Right.

I followed their reiatsu to a deserted area nearby, and as I approached them, I heard loud shouting. Hmm... Rukia must have shown Ichigo the gikongan. I wouldn't be surprised if Ichigo had started questioning the appearance of the candy dispenser. At least it wasn't the bunny one.

Then I rounded the corner to see Rukia, shinigami Ichigo, and a cheerful Ichigo-body.

"That is not cool! What is that?! It is nothing like me!" Ichigo was yelling, pointing a finger at his body which likely was currently containing an artificial soul. Rukia merely ignored him and glanced at her cell phone. "Hm? It's an order... Perfect! Let's leave it to him and get over to the scene!"

Ichigo started freaking out. "Are... Are you stupid?!"

"Hey!" I greeted cheerfully as I walked over to them. "Good morning~!"

Both Ichigo and Rukia stared at me for awhile, and the artificial soul in Ichigo's body simply greeted me just as cheerfully. Hmm... Not as bad as Chappy, but definitely bad enough...

"I'm coming with ya," I told them as I popped Perrito's candy into my mouth and came out of my body. I didn't have to tell Perrito to act normal. She put her acting skills to good use and automatically switched to Chappy mode, much to Rukia's envy.

"Wait a minute! We'll definitely be found out! There's no way-"

I interrupted Ichigo's protest. "Don't worry," I told him with a grin (that was meant to be reassuring) "My gikongan will take care of yours and show him the ropes if needed."

Well, Ichigo didn't look too reassured... Unsurprisingly, since my modsoul was currently acting like a normal Chappy soul. And I also had a feeling that Perrito would have more fun letting the Yuki soul create havoc in Ichigo's body than stopping him. I didn't tell him that of course.

Finally, Ichigo gave in. "Hey! Me! Get over to my next class!"

"Leave it to me, master!" the Yuki soul replied. And I found it slightly disconcerting to see Ichigo's face without his usual frown.

"Help me keep an eye on him," I told Perrito who gleefully agreed.

... Perrito's POV...

As soon as the shinigami left, I thought, now on top of studying... I need to babysit a stupid Yuki! Damn... I'd rather go to the cinema... Then I sub-consciously exclaimed aloud, "The newest Pirates of the Carribean movie just came out recently!"

"What are you talking about?" the Yuki soul asked. I stared at him for a moment and frowned. Something wasn't right.

"Well, you're new, aren't you? Pirates off the Carribean is a great movie series! ... You know what is a movie... Don't you?"

The Yuki soul stared at me blankly as he began to stretch his legs and went into a series of leg warm-ups. Strange..

"What are you doing?" I asked cheerfully, the way a Chappy soul would act... Though this isn't how a Yuki soul should act!

"Warm-ups," the soul said. "Say, you're a Chappy soul... Right?"

I glared at him, then realization struck. "Hmm? Yeah, I'm supposed to be a Chappy~ Why?" Well, not quite the truth... But not a lie either... I was _supposed_ to be a Chappy soul.

"Never mind," the soul replied and stretched somemore. "Aah... This feels good. Damn those department bastards for locking me up for so long."

"What are you talking about? Say, can I call you K? Short for Kurosaki since you're not actually Ichigo," I said him to him as cheerfully and naively as I could. I was cautious though. I didn't tell him K could also stand for 'Kaizo Konpaku.' Not yet at least. This is bad... Really bad... Another illegal modsoul... Oh dear, and I couldn't even contact Chizuki!

K ignored me and kicked a nearby wall which got severely dented. So this modsoul has super leg-power and an attitude... And Chizuki expects me to look after this guy?

Just then, a teacher came by. He looked like he was from the Phys Ed department though I didn't recognize him. He wasn't pleased with the damaged wall, but K ignored him and leapt right over his head! Now I was pretty ninja myself, since I could train this body all I like without getting injured (I love my regeneration powers) and Chizuki didn't mind, cuz it's her body I was training... But at least I wasn't a disrespectful show-off!

"Hey, K! What are you doing?!" I demanded as I chased after him. The problem was, his leg-power was superior to mine. When we reached the block where our classroom was, the show-off leapt up three stories and entered the classroom through the window! I used parkour and scaled the wall and came up behind him.

The show-off was already basking in the attention our classmates were giving him. I think my appearance ruined his limelight, which was good.

"K, you should use the door!" I told him.

"Why use the door when I can use the window?" he said. "Besides, you're using the window too!"

Then his attention got diverted when Orihime said Ichigo's and Chizuki's names. He leapt away from the window sill, giving me space to enter the class properly, and descended on the table in front of Orihime. He took her hand and said in his most pleasant voice, "Pleasure to meet you, pretty lady. Would you please tell me your name?"

Then he kissed Orihime's hand! Everyone was shocked. Then Tatsuki hauled K away and started yelling at him for hitting on Orihime. Then he commented that Tatsuki looked kinda cute closeup too... Which brought me to the conclusion that he wasnt just a disrespectful show-off, he was a pervert too! I'm so sorry, Ichigo, Chizuki! You guys better have a good load of memory-replacers prepared!

... Normal POV...

The Hollow wasn't too hard to deal with, so I mostly watched on the sidelines while Ichigo did the job. Ichigo was very keen on going back to school as quickly as possible because he was so sure that something bad would happen if he were to leave that Yuki soul alone for too long, so the subject of me being a shinigami was put off for the time being.

When we returned to the school, we found that the window of class 1-3 was broken. Rukia ran into the building while Ichigo and I headed up to the classroom from the outside. Which shunpo, I reached the broken window first and when I looked in, I saw Tatsuki throwing desks at the Yuki-Ichigo and Perrito was trying to stop Tatsuki. Then Perrito spotted me and hurried over.

"Sorry. K turned out to be a modsoul and a disrespectful perverted show-off," she whispered so that no one would catch her seemingly talking to herself. K? Was that the name she gave the modsoul then? How troublesome.

Then Rukia burst into the classroom through the door, and K shot past Perrito and I. Ichigo tried to stop him but he still managed to jump out of the window and escape. Ichigo panicked when K jumped, and his panic turned into shock when K landed on the ground with no problem and started running.

"W-What's going on?!" Ichigo exclaimed. "What in the world is he?!"

"He's a modsoul!" I replied. And we chased after him.

...

"Aah! Damn it! We lost him! I lost myself!" Ichigo wailed. It was kinda amusing.

"That sounds like a paradox," Rukia replied.

"There's no time for complicated jokes!" Ichigo argued. "We have to hurry up and catch me... I mean, catch him..."

"You know how weird that is, right?" I commented.

"You heard that too... Right? The trouble in the classroom..." Ichigo struggled, sounding very mortified. "I... Uh... He used my body... And with Inoue and stupid Tatsuki... He ki... Ki... Ki..."

"Seemed like he kissed them," Rukia supplied bluntly.

"Aww! Don't say that, moron! It's embarrassing!" Ichigo protested loudly, to which Rukia merely replied that 'locking lips was nothing' and such. As hilarious as it was...

"Guys, maybe we should get a move on before the modsoul creates more havoc in your body?" I interrupted them.

"But we lost him!" Ichigo exclaimed. I sighed. Pathetic.

"No... You did. Come on, he seems to have gone that way," I said, and gestured in the direction that I sensed his strange reiatsu was coming from. I could have used shunpo and gone ahead of them of course, but I figured it maybe better to wait for Ichigo himself, since that's his body we're trying to hunt down. And their company was fun.

"What's a modsoul?" Ichigo asked along the way. Rukia did the explanation since I only knew the vague stuff. Apparently there was an operation in Soul Society called "Spearhead" and the aim was to insert souls created for combat into dead bodies that have lost their souls. Kinda creepy, if you ask me.

The operation was flawed and after the battle-type artificial souls were created, they were called modsouls. The operation was cancelled before it could take place and all the modsouls created were destroyed, though some seemed to have escaped and still exist.

"Hold on..." Ichigo said. "That means that he... was created for the convenience of your Soul Society... And he'll be killed for Soul Society's convenience too?"

Ichigo didn't look very pleased. Unfortunately, Rukia simply said, "That's the gist of it."

"And you're satisfied with that?!" he demanded.

"Satisfied or not... That's irrelevant. The modsouls must be destroyed! That is a rule of Soul Society!" Rukia said. "And don't forget, the rules of Soul Society are created to protect you human spirits."

I chose that moment to remind them of my presence. "Well, it so happens that I broke that rule then. Perrito, shouldn't you be in class?"

All three of us turned around to find my body following us. Perrito made a face. "There wasn't much damage control I could do. Michiru and Ryo convinced the teacher that came in that a stranger had came in through the window and that Tatsuki drove him away. Oh, and Orihime commented that K wasn't Ichigo in such a convincing manner, as if she really did know."

"Eh? That doesn't explain why you're here with us."

"Well, let's just say I don't like K and wish to give that show-off a good punching. How does that sound?" Perrito said. I think she's rubbing off me... I swear she's gotten more and more violent lately.

"Perrito?" Rukia questioned. She and Ichigo stared at Perrito, who took the opportunity to introduce herself properly.

"Hi! Chizuki named me Perrito! I'm a modsoul with super-regeneration abilities and I am a fan of pirates! Pleased to meet ya, shinigami Rukia and substitute-shinigami Ichigo!"

Rukia turned to me, seemingly lost of words. "She... She's..."

"I told you I've broken that stupid rule," I said to Rukia. "I didn't have the heart to get rid of her, and she's actually quite a fine person so I see no reason why I can't keep her. And if you guys don't want that other modsoul, I'm keeping him too."

Then we went on in silence, giving me lots of time to think about how shinigami weren't all that great. I mean, look at Aizen and all his scheming! I thought he was the only one who likes pawns. Turns out I was wrong. Sigh... Look's like another chat with my Division and another rant with Urahara was in order.

Then all of a sudden, two phones started beeping: mine and Rukia's. It was another Hollow alert. I sensed the Hollow nearby... In the direction of the modsoul's reiatsu... And the school that Ichigo's sisters go to.

We soon found the Hollow that resembled a giant millipede. It was making so much noise that even if I couldn't sense it's reiatsu, I'd be able to hear it from a mile away. Then we noticed that it was facing a flat open roof. Someone was on the roof, facing the Hollow... Someone with bright orange hair like the substitute shinigami beside me.

"That idiot!" Ichigo yelled and sprinted ahead. I dashed after him. When we neared the Hollow and K, I saw that he had gotten himself hurt... Or rather, gotten Ichigo's body hurt. There was a huge gash in his shoulder and it was bleeding.

"Hehe... Interfering with my meal... Running around..." the Hollow was saying as he shot out a claw to attack K. "I don't know who you are, but... Weaklings like you shouldn't be involved!"

"_EXACTLY!_" cried Ichigo and chopped off the attacking claw-limb-thingie before it could reach K. The hollow shrieked in pain and Ichigo turned to the stunned modsoul.

"You're injured! Whose body do you think this is?!" Ichigo yelled at K, gripping him by the front of his uniform.

"If you're gonna get hurt fighting trash like this, then don't jump in!" Ichigo continued ranting and swung his sword behind him, striking the Hollow again without even looking at the creature spurting blood. Well, I must say, with Ichigo around, I don't have to do much. I could just sit back and enjoy the show.

"What are you talking about?! I'm fighting because you took so long to arrive!" K yelled back. "If I hadn't fought... Those kids would have...!"

He didn't get to finish his sentence because the Hollow came to attack again, yelling, "You bastards...! I'll eat you both!"

"Shut up!" was their reply as they attacked the Hollow at the same time: Ichigo with his sword, K with his super-kick. The Hollow flew backwards as his body was sliced into half. Suddenly, K shot forwards, to the surprise of Ichigo and I. Upon reaching the Hollow, he promptly gave it another super-kick, sending the Hollow soaring elsewhere... And sending himself over the railings. Ichigo caught him in time.

"You idiot! What are you doing?! Hollows vanish on their own if you cut their heads! Why did you kick it upwards? What were you thinking?! It's as if you didn't want it to fall there..." Ichigo yelled as he pulled K over to safety, then we noticed the line of ants on the floor. Seriously?

"A line of ants...? It can't be... You aren't gonna talk like a saint and say you didn't want them crush, are you?" Ichigo asked.

"Y... Yeah? So what?! I won't kill anything!" K shot back. He was chosen to die the day after he was created, and so everyday he was in the form of a pill, he was afraid, especially when he watched his fellow modsouls disappear day by day. Even after he escaped the storage among the other pills, he still feared being discovered and killed.

"Life isn't something that should be taken by others," K said then he started yelling. "I was born like this! I should at least have the right to live and die freely! Whether it's humans or insects or even us... It's the same. That's why I won't kill... I won't kill anything!"

"My... My... We finally find you and you're all roughed up," came a familiar voice. Then Urahara swept in and approached K. "This makes all the equipment we brought totally useless..."

Then he raised his cane and struck K on the forehead with it. The modsoul shot out of Ichigo's body in his pill form. I glanced behind Urahara and saw Ururu, Jinta and Tessai all carrying weapons of some sort.

"Well, mission complete! Let's go home, guys!" Urahara said as he picked up K.

"Huh?! I thought we were gonna see some action for the first time in a while!" Jinta protested. Then he got whacked by a long pole that came flying out of nowhere. Well, not nowhere exactly. I had a good idea where it came from... Though how... Was another question altogether.

"Wait! What are you going to do with him?!" Ichigo exclaimed why Jinta started shrieking. Urahara ignored Jinta and turned around.

"... What? Dispose of it. Why?"

"You can see me... Who are you?" Ichigo asked.

"Oh... How should I answer that?" Urahara said with a comical blank face while tossing and catching K in his hand.

"He's a greedy salesman," Rukia and Perrito said at the same time as Rukia snatched K when he was tossed into the air and Perrito whacked Urahara on the head with another pole. Where did she get the poles from?

"Kuchiki-san! Don't take that!" Urahara cried in his annoying shopkeeper-voice.

"Why not?" Perrito and I asked in synchronization. Then Perrito glared at Urahara and from the experience I've had lately, I could now feel a rant coming when it comes.

"K is a modsoul. I am also a modsoul. You may have sold K to Rukia by accident, but you sold me to Chizuki knowing full well what I am! So don't you dare give the excuse of killing K because it's your responsibility... It's not! You're outside the law, aren't you? If it's anyone's responsibility, it's Chizuki's! And don't you dare pull your shopkeeper-selling-faulty-goods crap on us either!"

Urahara looked stunned for a moment, then he turned to me, with a perfectly serious face. "Well, in that case, when trouble comes, we'll play dumb."

"Sure. Though you can expect me to come round your place to whine about this whole mess tomorrow," I said to him. Hmm... I must say, I like his serious face... And don't like it at the same time. Ah well...

"Rukia, since we're on the topic of trouble, can I speak to you a bit?" I said when Urahara left and she had given K to Ichigo who thanked her. Then I glanced at Ichigo and felt the need to add, "In private."

So Ichigo went home first (apparently, Rukia was now living with Ichigo... In his closet) and Rukia stayed behind with Perrito and I.

"What is it?" she asked. I stared at her for awhile, considering how to say this.

"Well, the thing is, I go back to Soul Society every night. Which is to say, I live in Soul Society, but come to this world to study and be normal during the day," I said and waited for her to process this info before continuing. "You're probably gonna be missing from Soul Society for a while more, aren't you? Well, what should I do when the other shinigami ask me if I've met you?"

Rukia remained silent. We both knew how serious this thing was. If the others knew about this whole mess, we's get punished... And maybe even executed. I sighed. As much as it's all Rukia's fault that I got into this mess, it wasn't really entirely her fault either. And she was a victim too. At times like this, I wonder what Kuchiki would say if he finds out about this whole thing... Which is becoming more and more likely.

"Now, the question is, do you want me to tell them about you if they ask me, or not?" I said. "It's a simple question, really. Forget duty and everything. This is about what you really want."

"No," came her answer. I cocked my head.

"Hm?" Elaboration please.

"No. I'd rather if you don't tell them about this," Rukia finally said. I grinned.

"Alright. I'll lie to them for you... On one condition," I told her, feeling somewhat satisfied that I could finally stop worrying...

"What's your condition?" Rukia asked. I hummed a bit, and took my time answering, knowing that while I was feeling relieved, Rukia was still nervous. Oh shit. Bad habit! Bad bad habit! Why did I have to pick this up from Gin of all bloody things?!

"Well, if I lie for you... You must lie for me too," I said. "It won't do if I say I've never met you in Karakura... And you go ahead and tell them we were classmates... Assuming you get caught and they ask you, of course. So we've gotta pretend we don't know each other and that we've never met. All interactions will be conveniently forgotten... And if we meet in Soul Society, it will be our first time meeting each other. Deal?"

The relief on Rukia's face was almost funny. She smiled. "Deal."

...

Later on, I found out that K was named 'Kon' by Ichigo, derived from the word 'Kaizo Konpaku', the way 'K' was. Apparently, Ichigo didn't want to name the modsoul 'Kai' because 'Kai' sounded too cool and it pissed him off. Perrito and I still called Kon 'K' though, because she was used to it and she influenced me into saying it... Well, K seems pleased with it and I admit 'K' certainly sounds cooler than "Kon' but eh? Who cares?

In any case, K has taken a liking to us (Rukia, Perrito, Ichigo and I) for 'saving' him from the evil clutches of Urahara. I forbade him from calling me 'Nee-san' but he goes ahead and does it anyways (he calls Rukia that too...) so I had lots of fun torturing him whenever he does it. Honestly, I've had enough of nicknames already.

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**I'm currently having a one-week school hols so i'll be uploading another chapter by the end of this week. Expect another hiatus after that though. Besides, I think it's about time I start working on my other fanfic... Haven't updated that one in awhile. ****My thanks to all who are still following me. Your patience is greatly appreciated~ Oh, and reviews are welcome~**


	27. Chapter 27: Beacons of Doom

**Gomenasai, my dear readers. I know I have been on hiatus for a very long time. There will be another hiatus coming up again soon, but I hope to be able to squeeze in 3 or 4 chapters for you guys before then. My greatest thanks to those who are still reading this, and to those who have recently begun following me. This chapter is mostly as lead up to the greater events coming up i.e. the Rukia Rescue Arc. Hope it's not too boring. Ja~**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach**

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Chapter 27: Beacons of Doom

_"Row, row, row your boat... Gently off a cliff..."_

My birthday came and went again. I got more chocolate from Yachiru, a week's break from sparring from Kenpachi, a black scarf from Matsumoto and Toshiro (they shared the present), skeletal trinkets from Aizen (apparently meant for decorating my zanpakuto hilts, in other words, making use of his knowledge of my secret to toy with me), and Gin still owes me a present. Akirai gave me a pair of roller skates and Hanaha gave me a Death Note book (in which I wrote Aizen's name, but as it wasn't the real thing, it obviously didn't work).

There was nothing else interesting to note, other than the questions that have begun to pop up more frequently: _Have you seen Rukia? Did you see her in Karakura Town? Have you sensed her anywhere when you're in the human world?_ And I would shimmy my way past these questions, saying I haven't met any other shinigami at all. Not a lie. Ichigo wasn't exactly a shinigami, not a proper one anyway, and Urahara didn't count. I have yet to see Rukia in her shingami form, so...

But when Renji came to me and shook me so hard and demanded me to keep a look out for her and to let him know if I got any clue as to her whereabouts or her state of health, I could only hide guiltily behind my blank face, wait for him to stop shaking me, then as calmly as I could, told him that I would let him know if I were to ever bump into her. Once again, I did not _lie_. I had meant it literally. But I still feltreally bad about it anyway, because even if I weren't lying, I had been promoted to lieutenant and one of the first things I was doing was deceiving them and protecting a 'criminal.' Argh. Damn that Rukia. Why was I doing all of these anyway?

...

One week later, I found out that it was going to be Ichigo's mother's death anniversary. I had gone to school as usual, and there was a conversation going on about our recent Art homework. The homework was entitled My Future Self and Tatsuki had drawn herself as the future champion of women's martial arts. It really was a pity that she had no interest of pursuing an art career since she was quite good at drawing. Orihime had a ridiculous drawing (which was actually quite cute) of herself as a semi-robot in a very alien and futuristic setting. The weirdness of it was so Orihime-ish. Then Michiru asked to see my drawing and I showed them my drawing of a grim reaper in front of a grave.

"That's just... Morbid," Michiru commented, scrunching up her face.

"Well, everybody dies in the end," Tatsuki said casually.

"Oh, I thought she's the grim reaper," Orihime said. I grinned. Leave them to their own interpretation, though Tatsuki and Orihime were both right. It depends on how you look at it.

Ichigo arrived soon after, with an unnaturally cheerful greeting. I froze and narrowed my eyes at his back. I recognized the smiley mask straightaway, and found it highly suspicious.

"He seems like he's in a good mood today," Michiru said as he left to join Mizuiro and Keigo. I stared at her.

"Good mood? I'd say he seems more emo today."

"Yeah, why is he so tensed?" Orihime agreed with a worried frown. Tatsuki looked surprised.

"What day is it today?" she asked.

"June 16th," Michiru replied.

"You guys are amazing, it took me three years to realize that," Tasuki commented. Huh?

"Realize what?" I asked.

Then she told us that if we had any urgent business with Ichigo we'd better finish it that day because he would be taking the day off the next day.

He did take the next day off, and Rukia didn't come to school either. Tatsuki later told us that his mother had died when he was nine and at that time he was a mother's boy and smiled a lot. He changed somewhat after that. Unsurprisingly. I don't think anyone's quite the same after losing a loved one, especially at that age.

I suspect it was a hollow that killed them. Just as I suspect my parents were killed by hollows too. Of course the police told me it was a car accident. I believed them until I found out about the existence of hollows and if I was born with a shinigami spirit, that might mean that at least one of them was shinigami too. And I highly doubted that shinigami would die so easily in a car crash. Plus, if they had been in gigais, as they probably were, they're souls would still survive. And I have heard nothing from Soul Society about them.

Rukia confirmed some of my suspicions later when Ichigo came back to school looking like he had gotten into a fight. When they were visiting his mother's grave they had met the same hollow that killed his mother. The hollow had escaped after the fight however.

Soon after, I was informed of a Don Kanonji craze that was sweeping through the town. Don Kanonji was some dubious spirit medium/messenger of hell, who started in several Don Kanonji psychic TV shows and had a signature move: arms forming an X in front of one's chest and a BOHAHAHA laugh. Quite stupid really.

Crazily enough, everyone seemed to love him. And the worst thing is, the TV show Ghost Bust's location was going to be held in Karakura Town in one week's time. Everyone loved to mimic his signature pose, even Chad (minus the laugh). And everyone was going to watch the next Ghost Bust episode in real life. The only people I know who isn't really interested in it are Ichigo, Karin, Tatsuki and Hanaha. Even Perrito was a fan.

I refused to go watch the damn thing of course. All that crowd and noise and idiocy. And since I didn't have a TV at home, I left Perrito at Aki-chan's apartment where I told the stuffed toy husky to behave. Aki-chan wasn't going to watch it live, because Hanaha refused to go too and would only compromise to watch it with her on TV.

The peace and quiet I had at home, taking a nice break from shinigami duties and reading a nice book, was interrupted by Perrito. She came in through the window, shouting something about a spirit and Ichigo and Rukia on TV. It occurred to me then. Rukia. On TV. I could only hope that shinigami are not the type to bother watching this stupid show.

I followed Perrito to Akirai's apartment. Sure enough, the idiots were on TV. Apparently, the stupid Don Kanonji could actually see spirits but his way of dealing with them was all wrong. He had turned a chained spirit into a demi-hollow, and Ichigo had stepped in to help out. There was chaos on the set, with guards chasing after Rukia and Urahara's gang (Tessai was carrying Ichigo's body). They were stupidly drawing too much attention to themselves.

"Kurosaki... Came out of his body!" Akirai kept yelling while Hanaha commented on the black kimono. I had to explain to them that Ichigo was (unofficially) a shinigami too. And so was Rukia. And soul society better not see this. Thank goodness I wasn't there with them. What soul society would do if they saw me with Rukia.

The next day, Ichigo, Chad, Rukia, Keigo and Mizuiro got into trouble with the school for the scene the made on set, especially Ichigo. It was thanks to Rukia's acting skills that got then out of trouble.

I dragged her away from the rest of them later that day, and warned her that Soul Society could possible find her through that show, so she'd had better be prepared for them to come knocking on the door like the police. Not like it mattered, since there really wasn't anything we could do about it by now.

The next stupid thing that happened that month was not entirely their fault. Not _entirely_.

It started out as a case of hollows disappearing right after Rukia and I receive the alert, as if someone else had killed them before us. It wasn't another shinigami-I would've known if it was. And I found out who it was not long later.

One fine day, Rukia dragged Ichigo off to find some hollow as usual, and as usual, I followed them. Well, this time, they were in such a hurry that Ichigo didn't have the time to switch to his shinigami form, though I managed to get Perrito to replace me in time to follow them in shinigami mode. Once again, there was no hollow in sight. Ichigo became, understandably, quite irritated, and they began to argue. Rukia speculates that her phone may be faulty, though I knew that was not the case. After all, my hollow/shinigami senses alerted me of nearby hollows regardless of whether i have my shinigami phone or not, and the phone has been proven accurate so far. And even if the phone fails, my senses won't fail. And my senses told me there was a hollow. The reason the hollow was no longer there appeared behind Rukia and Ichigo soon after.

Ishida Uryuu was dressed in a ridiculous white outfit (not as bad as Kurotsuchi's of course) facing off with Ichigo. Now who was Ishida? He was a guy in our class who, if I'm not wrong, scored higher than anyone, and looked like a stereotypical class president. He's in the handicraft club... or something. He's also the guy with the weird reiatsu that I noted at the beginning of this school year.

Throughout the whole confrontation, I had my reiatsu suppressed to its near zero (as I usually do, even with the Gentei Reiinplaced on me) and i was perched far above them atop a telephone pole. I knew that Ishida hadn't sensed me yet (he couldn't have, not with my shinigami training and Arrancar experience) and he probably didn't know his classmate, Yoruka Chizuki, was a shinigami either. I wasn't about to let him know that so soon.

In any case, Ishida spent the time embarrassing the two of them. He pointed out another hollow before the phone even alerted them of it, and when they started floundering about the whereabouts of the new hollow, Ishida merely straightened one arm, pointing in the direction of the hollow. And proceeded to mock them about how they couldn't even sense the hollow without the phone. Did he know that Ichigo wasn't really a proper shinigami though? So obviously he wasn't as good in terms of proper shinigami arts as an official shinigami. And the other proper shingami, Rukia, was still weak so... Well, in any case, the confrontation ended with Ishida declaring that he hates shinigami i.e. Ichigo (because he didn't know I was there).

The entire thing was just... Stupid. I went back to Soul Society that night, and asked around about Quincies. I was careful about who i asked so as not to raise any suspicion (e.g. the 11th Division, Matsumoto...) such as where I found out about Quincies from. I found out that Ishida one of the last of the Quincies, a race of people who killed hollows (killed as in annihilate completely, without the soul cleansing and sending to soul society part), and enemies of hollows and shinigami. I also learnt that the Quincies were massacred by shinigami as they were destroying the balance between the living and the dead. Funny I was never given Shinigami History classes before.

So, why was the whole thing stupid? Because Ishida held a grudge regarding the death of his grandfather or something along those lines and now, one day later, Ichigo and Ishida were competing to see who could kill more hollows, and that involved Ishida summoning a hell lot of hollows to Karakura Town just for their competition. And as the day passed, and the hollow number didn't seem to decrease despite the many I've been killing non-stop, I had a feeling that there were far more hollows than Ishida intended.

Damn you Ishida! You're putting so many lives in danger just because of your grudge and your competition! And if this number of hollows didn't attract the attention of Soul Society... Actually, I'd rather not go down that line of thought before I jinx this whole thing.

Well, we weren't together at first. I had followed Ichigo after school when he was following Ishida. After that we had split up to fight hollows. I sent Perrito (who was in my body) off to check on the various reiatsu that were increasing significantly i.e. Orihime's, Chad's, Akirai's and Hanaha's. I trust Perrito to help them if they needed help. Perrito had become quite adept in fighting hollows. However, I doubt Chad would be easy to defeat and Akirai and Hanaha weren't too bad either. And when I concentrated hard, I could sense Rukia somewhere else.

After awhile, I tracked K to Rukia. When I was there, Uryuu had just arrived too. We stared at each other for a full minute. Then...

"Hey Ishida~!" I grinned at him. "Nice bunch of hollows you've invited here!"

"Y-you are a... Yoruka. Yoruka, you're a shinigami too?" He frowned and managed not to appear as surprised as he probably felt. My grin widened and changed to a big smirk.

"Well well, how is it that a Quincy could not sense a shinigami sitting three seats from him in class? Or perhaps better yet, the Quincy did not notice when said shinigami was watching him mocking poor Ichigo. And the Quincy did not notice, again I might add, when said shinigami was following Ichigo when he followed you after school earlier today. And how could you not have noticed when I released some of my suppressed reiatsu to kill off more hollows more efficiently?"

I stepped towards him, now smiling the Ichimaru-Gin face. "You wanted a competition with Ichigo to prove that you are superior to shinigami. I'm afraid that I'll have to step in. It has become too dangerous for all the humans living here. Your opponent is me, not Ichigo, because he is not an official shinigami. And I will kick your ass for _endangering the lives of so many humans for your stupid competition_. Do you hear me?"

Ishida just stood there and stared, slightly slack-jawed. At that moment, Ichigo appeared, killing a hollow in the process. I half-expected him to turn on Ishida like mad. I did not expect him to start yelling at K and lecturing him like hell, totally ignoring Ishida. It was quite amusing actually. Then Ishida got fed up with him (understandably so) and shot an arrow at Ichigo. I blocked the arrow easily with my sword, turning towards him.

"Your fight is no longer with him, remember?" That got Ichigo's attention though. But before he uttered a single letter, I cut him off.

"You may continue killing hollows and protecting the people here, but this fight no longer involves you." I turned back to Ishida. "You can be sure that I'll be beating you to a pulp after all these hollows have been cleared, Ishida."

I left them then, feeling very annoyed. I increased my shunpo speed and headed to the region where hollows had begun to concentrate. In the distance, I could sense Urahara's faint reiatsu with Orihime's, Chad's and Perrito's. I couldn't be sure, since his reiatsu was suppressed like mine. And I could also sense Ishida coming after me. Tch. I considered increasing my speed, but decided that there was no harm in him catching up with me.

I dove into the mass of surging hollows ahead, with Ishida close behind. I frowned. Some of my more effective methods of killing hollows surrounded me required space around me. I couldn't swing my sword as I please with him with me. But I wasn't sure if he could hold his own against so many hollows without my help. And as much as I wanted to shake some sense into him and teach him a good lesson, I didn't want him dead. Far from it. How troublesome.

I turned around to face Ishida and saw the hollow behind him. I used Samui Iki, shot the white blade out, right past Ishida's shoulder, and froze the hollow. It was satisfying to see his eyes widen. Then I ducked as a claw swiped at the spot where my head would have been, and swung my blade around to freeze all the hollows directly behind me.

"Ishida, I'm not being egoistic or anything, but quite frankly, I don't need your help. Not here anyway. You would be more useful helping me get rid of the hollows in the other parts of the town. However, over here, it would seem like you need mine. So, we're going to work together."

"What? D-" I cut him off.

"That was not a suggestion. You either work with me. Or I'll knock you out and shove you to Rukia where you'll be safer."

Ishida glared at me. "Fine. I don't really think you can handle all these hollows by yourself anyway. And if you die, I won't have anyone to fight."

That was how we ended up fighting off hollows together. It didn't last long because Ichigo showed up soon after. The idiot evidently didn't listen to my instructions to protect the humans. Although I had a feeling that there was no longer a need to. All the hollows seemed to be gathering where we were. Wonder why...

Well, after Ichigo charged towards us like a berserk, yelling about finally understanding why Ishida hates shinigami. Turns out that wasn't the real reason Ishida hates shinigami. That was when he revealed to us the stuff about his grandfather's death due to the incompetency of shinigami. Know what's ironic? His grandfather had wanted to work together with shinigami, and here his grandson was, endangering lives of innocent humans, blinded my his revenge, and fighting against shinigami. Well, Ichigo pretty much voiced my thoughts in quite an eloquent manner.

"Your story was so long I forgot the first half!" was the first thing Ichigo said, kicking Ishida's head into a hollow (ouch), followed by, "But the fact is that your grandpa's greatest wish wasn't about shinigami acknowledging the strength of the Quincy! It was about working along with the shinigami, wasn't it?!"

"Well said, Ichigo. Now join us. Three is... usually better than two," I said. Ishida glared at me. Then Ichigo spoke again.

"I'm originally a human. I don't even know that much about Soul Reapers, unlike Chizuki here. It's not like I'm doing this work for the love of it. But... I do want to defeat the hollows."

Ishida glanced from me to Ichigo. "Why?"

"My mother was killed by a Hollow... And I don't want anyone else to go through that. So I fight them. I want to protect as many people I can. Uryuu... Whatever your reasons for it, this contest, as Chizuki has said, is endangering a lot of people."

"Alright you two talk too much. We've got hollow butts to kick," I interrupted. I figured they'd have bonded enough. They seem to have started calling each other by their given names after all.

And so the three of us stood back to back, hollows surrounding us. That was when we noticed that a gigantic crack was forming in the sky. I recognised the crack and I think my heart stopped for a moment. No, it cannot be. Crap, if this was really happening... I had to get Rukia, Ichigo, Ishida and K outta here as soon as possible. A Gillian was always bad news. A Gillian with a Soul Society 'criminal' and her 'partner-in-crime' on scene is even worse news.

"Everyone! Out of here! Now!" I yelled, grabbing both Ishida's shirt and Ichigo's sleeve with one hand, using Shiroifu to paralyse all the hollows in our way as I tried to drag them away (Kuroisei was in my sword sheath). As I was busy doing that, the Gillian finally made its appearance, emerging from the crack head-first, pushing the sky away from it like curtains.

"What's going on, Chizuki?! What is that thing?!" Ichigo yelled back at me as we approached Rukia. I turned my head and saw Ishida looked as shocked as Ichigo.

"Is that a hollow too?!" demanded Ishida.

"That's a Menos Grande. I've only seen them in the illustrations in a textbook before," Rukia said, sounding very shocked and very terrified.

"Really?" I muttered, half to myself. Well, I suppose that wasn't too unexpected. After all, she was an unseated shinigami. Soul Society probably wouldn't send her on any Gillian-hunting mission. And it occurred to me, she probably won't even see hollows like Grimmjow in her textbook.

Just then, the hollows around us started exploding. Ururu appeared, carrying some sort gigantic firearm covered in seals. Then we saw Urahara, Tessai and Jinta.

"Kurosaki-san! Chizuki! We've come to help you~!" Urahara sang as Jinta started sending hollows flying with a gigantic baseball bat, Ururu firing that canon-like firearm, and Tessai using his bare hands to kill hollows.

"Seriously?" I raised an eyebrow at Urahara. He waved his fan and laughed.

"We'll take care of the hollows around here! So you, Kurosaki-san, can concentrate on fighting that guy." He pointed to the Gillian. Wait a minute...

"Urahara, wouldn't it be more appropriate for me to-" Urahara cut me off.

"Shhh~ I'm afraid you'll have to stay out of this one, Chizuki. Just watch. He'll be fine." Then in a lower voice, so that no one else but me heard, "What are you going to do if Soul Society finds you in the company of Kurosaki-san, the human who took Kuchiki-san's shinigami powers?"

That was when it occurred to me. Because of the appearance of the Gillian, Soul Society might not just be alerted. They might also start to pay closer attention to this part of the town. And when they find the Gillian, they will find Rukia and Ichigo too. And if they manage to get visuals, they'll find me there with them too. I suddenly remembered then, that Soul Society had managed to get a picture of me two years ago, when a Gillian had attacked and I had killed it. Of course, back then, I had wandered straight into Soul Society right after that, saving them the effort of hunting down this strange shinigami that had appeared out of nowhere. In this case however, they would find Rukia and Ichigo. If I were to keep up the charade of not having met Rukia before, I couldn't allow myself to remain at the scene. But to leave them to fight the Gillian themselves...

"Don't worry," Urahara assured me. "You can leave. I'll still be here."

And since he did seem to care about the well-being of Ichigo, and he was a captain-class shinigami, I took my leave. I decided to watch from afar instead. If anything too bad happened, and Urahara wasn't responding to it, I could only hope I could shunpo back to help them in time.

I watched from a distance as the Gillian ate up some of the other hollows, and vaguely recalled eating some hollows myself before. I could only imagine Ichigo's, Uryuu's and Rukia's reactions if I told them that. I was still quite disgusted at myself. Now what do hollows taste like? Bittersweet blood and the strange taste of souls. Each soul had a different taste, but I don't think I shall talk about that now. I don't like the thought of consuming souls...

Ichigo first tried to cut the hollow's leg, for what reasons I could not comprehend, especially since that slice packed no power in it. The hollow kicked Ichigo, sent him flying, and all I did was watch. Uryuu tried to shoot an arrow at it, but the hollow was a Gillian and barely felt a thing. Then he went to check on Ichigo who was still alive and conscious. The first real visible evidence of Ichigo's uncontrollable massive reiryoku was when Uryuu touched Ichigo's sword and his Quincy bow suddenly increased in size by a lot.

I watched them talk, and realized that Uryuu had come up with a ridiculous plan involving Ichigo tying his sword to Uryuu's head, and the two of them looked really hilarious doing it. But whatever the plan was, Ichigo gave up on in and the plan was pretty much thrown away to one side. Ichigo himself was evidently not a planner, or if he did plan, his plan would be worse than Uryuu's. As soon as he untied his sword from Uryuu's head, he started to run towards the Gillian again. I didn't need to hear what they say to know that Ichigo was just going berserker again.

Then the Gillian began making this strange sound. It was a familiar sound then I associated with... Crap. It's gonna fire a _cero_. Depending on where it aims, all of them may be able to come out of it alive... But the idiot Ichigo was still running straight to the Gillian, unaware of the danger, and Urahara wasn't stopping him!

I waited for a bit, hoping that Urahara would make a move before I had to. Then the cero was fired, and just as I was shunpo-ing towards Ichigo. A huge wave of reiatsu crashed into me. I stopped and stared. And watched as Ichigo blocked the cero with his gigantic zanpakuto. Their energies crashed and another sound could be heard... It was sympathetic resonance between Ichigo's reiryoku and the cero blast. In addition, his reiatsu just kept increasing the longer he held there. And then, in one sudden sweep, his reiatsu roared up, his sword was swung down, and a gigantic slash appeared on the Gillian, from head to toe. No wonder Urahara felt it safe to let Ichigo handle the Gillian... He had a hell lot more reiryoku than I thought. His reiryoku might even match mine.

He didn't manage to kill the Gillian however. The hollow was only injured seriously and it pulled one edge the sky in front of it and retreated behind it, probably back to Hueco Mundo where it came from, as if the sky was a curtain. Ichigo, who began to whoop and yell something to Uryuu suddenly collapsed to the ground, his reiryoku surging out of control... It reminded me that he really was just a rookie shinigami.

I didn't have to step in though. Uryuu took the initiative and started firing arrows at the sky, channeling Ichigo's excess reiryoku through him, and releasing them. It seems like the Quincy did know a lot more about spiritual energy than Ichigo. He probably realized that if he didn't help Ichigo get rid of the excess energy, Ichigo may very well die. Ah... And to think I was going to give him a hell of a beating after the whole fiasco. When I saw the expression on his face as he shot energy arrows until his hands bled, full of guilt and remorse, I decided that perhaps there was no need to kick his ass after all.

There was, however, no doubt that he still deserved a good lecture (or rant), because afterwards, as I discussed it with Urahara, this incident would no doubt reach the eyes and ears of Soul Society.

Well, there was only one good side about all this. And that was the fact that Uryuu became a tentative friend... of sorts.

...

And the very next day, when most people were asleep, _They came_.

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**Alright, that's it for now. I promise another chapter by next weekend. Reviews are welcome~! Do let me know constantly what you guys think of my OC and my writing, because I don't think I've developed her character enough... And has my writing style changed? I'm working on the next chapter, and, I don't know. It seems like my writing is getting worse... So be patient with me, kay? Oh, and before I forget, if any of you spot any spelling or grammar errors or fact errors, do let me know too.**


	28. Chapter 28: Criminal

**Ehehehe... ^^" Gomen... I know I was supposed to post this a week or two ago, but got too busy... Yeah, lame excuse. Sorry. Anyway, to all who patiently waited for it, and to those who have faved or followed the story, you have my greatest thanks ^^ Here's the chapter~ Hope you enjoy it~ **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. **

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Chapter 28: Criminal

_"Never knock on Death's door. Ring the doorbell and run away. He hates that."_

I returned to Soul Society at night, feeling very edgy and nervous. The Gillian had appeared and been defeated in a region where I live in. Soul Society knows very well that I could deal with such a hollow myself (right after I first entered Soul Society, they did their research and found that the Gillian that the Gillian that had unexpectedly appeared in town had been killed by me. I was told of this only after I asked Kenpachi for some reasons as to why I had been promoted; my bankai and hollow-killing abilities being two of them), but it had been Ichigo's reiatsu that skyrocketed and his sword that defeated the Gillian. That and the fact that the Gillian wasn't killed.

I headed straight for my Division's compounds, and Kenpachi was there, asking if I knew of the unusual activity that had occurred in Karakura town that day. Apparently, the Secret Remote Squad had gathered information about a Menos Grande appearing and being driven back to Hueco Mundo by a sword wound. This time, I really did lie.

"There was a sudden increase in hollow numbers while I was in school. I was busy dealing with them when the sky cracked and the Gillian appeared at an abandoned construction site. Since the Gillian didn't seem to be of immediate threat to the people, I quickly dealt with the remaining hollows first. However, when I finally started to make my way to the Gillian, it started to fire a cero. I thought I wouldn't make it in time, even with shunpo, but it seemed like someone else stopped it, deflected it and sliced the Gillian from head to toe. The Gillian retreated immediately, but by the time I got there, there was no one in sight." That was what I told Kenpachi and everyone else who asked later. There was a tiny problem with my lie: the time taken to shunpo from one end of the town to where the Gillian was, considering that I had been Kuchiki's hohō student. I could only hope that no one would notice that slight discrepency.

Preparations were made to pinpoint Rukia's location. I told them I couldn't sense Rukia's reiatsu, which would be believable enough should they find her later in her weakened state, so they didn't ask me for help in locating her, though they did, once again, ask me to keep a lookout for her.

It occurred to me later on that I wouldn't have an answer as to why I hadn't noticed that a substitute shinigami was my classmate. I worried about that for a long time. There were so many problems with this whole mess that I let myself get dragged into. And that was why, in the early morning, when Renji and Kuchiki were sent out to capture Rukia, I fled to Urahara's shop in panic.

I burst into the store, just as it was about to open, shouting, "Urahara! It's an emergency!"

Urahara greeted me with his usual carefree smile, though his eyes were dark. "What is it this time?"

"Ichigo's my _classmate_!"

"... Yes. I know that."

"But I didn't tell Soul Society that! And they are sure to find out sooner or later! What am I gonna do if they question me about it?!"

Urahara didn't answer immediately, humming a cheerful tune I did not recognise as he glanced to one side, staring into space. I blinked.

"You're... Not going to help me, are you?" I finally said, my earlier panic leaving me. There was no use in panicking now, I realized. Urahara wasn't the type to get too involved in complicated shinigami matters. And after all, this was a result of my own decision early on not to tell on Rukia. I had landed myself into this particular problem. I was as doomed as Rukia even if she doesn't tell them about my involvement. What were the chances of them being unable to locate Ichigo as well? Especially when Ichigo didn't know how to control his high reiatsu? And I had no doubt that the Secret Remote Squad would've been able to get a picture of him slicing the Gillian, just like how they got a picture of me killing the Gillian two years ago. Has it been two years? Didn't seem that long ago to me...

It wasn't that I was afraid of getting punished or killed. I realized that I couldn't care less about that. Of course, I wasn't saying that I was suicidal or anything. There was so much in life that I still wanted to experience. But what was worse than knowing I'll get punished for helping a criminal was that I was a lieutenant. They trusted me. I had friends, division members who looked up to me, shinigami whom I joked and played around with, captains who have come to respect me a little, and I couldn't bear the thought of them finding out how much I've disappointed them. How much I've lied to them.

And while I was lost in my own thoughts, I almost didn't notice when Urahara glanced back at me, a smile still resting on his face, his expression perfectly calm as he told me, "I never said that."

I stared at him. Utterly surprised. "What! So you're gonna help me?"

Urahara merely burst into a cheerful laugh. "_Ja_~ I suppose I don't mind helping you out a little, since I seem to be helping you people out quite a bit already."

"The solution is quite simple, really," Urahara went on to say. "You can just tell them, if they ever ask, that you have always felt that Ichigo's reiatsu is higher than normal, and didn't notice that his reiatsu had increased since becoming a shinigami. After all, that's not your job. You were only required to keep a lookout for Rukia while attending school like a normal student, right? And it would be understandable if you never bothered to check the reiraku of the people around you since you figured that you could just sense Rukia's reiatsu if she was around. And... If we can just get Ichigo to keep a low profile and be quiet from now until Soul Society comes and collect Rukia and leave, everything should turn out fine."

"... Ichigo? Low profile? Quiet? Have you gone out of your mind?" I demanded, rather exasperatedly. "I bet you a thousand yen that he's not gonna stay low when Rukia is captured. I wouldn't either, if I were in his position, but I'm not."

"Well even if they meet him, I doubt they'll figure out that he's your classmate if he doesn't tell them so. And hopefully, by the time they do find out, this whole thing would be over. And worse come to worse, you could convince them that you are just that oblivious. Maybe they'll demote you? But that's not so bad, right?"

"No... Compared to other possible alternatives... I just wish Rukia could've regained her shinigami powers in time. I had been hoping for that." I sighed. There were too many unpredictable elements in this situation. I would have to discuss this with Rukia.

...

In school, nothing much happened, and the normalcy of it was so strange, especially in the light of what I knew was coming. The only thing weird that happened that day was Uryuu coming to class with his arms all bandaged up (and I found out what a horrible liar he is) and Ichigo inviting Uryuu for lunch with Mizuiro and Keigo. I had lunch with Tatsuki, Orihime, and some other girls in my class. And Rukia. Lunch with them was entertaining. The topic of Rukia's relationship with Ichigo came up. I merely sat there and watched. Occasionally, I would be dragged into some argument, but that's it. I was too preoccupied with Soul Society matters to enjoy lunch with them properly.

I spoke to Rukia after lunch. I warned her that some shinigami has been dispatched to look for her. I didn't tell her who because I didn't feel like informing her that her childhood friend and brother were coming after her. We agreed that Ichigo should be informed to stay hidden for some time. I also told her that when the time comes, I wouldn't be there to help her. I would be in Soul Society, doing who-knows-what. She was kind enough to understand that it was nothing personal and that I couldn't risk anymore than I have for her. How can I feel so bad for deceiving my shinigami friends and not helping her at the same time?

Rukia told me she was going to run away from 'home' that night, so as not to bring any suspicion to Ichigo. She was planning to leave a note for Ichigo with instructions not to look for her. I pointed out that he probably wouldn't listen, but there was nothing we could do about that except maybe tying him up and gagging him or something.

...

That night, I was having a spar with Ikkaku when we heard that Rukia had been captured, brought in and imprisoned. I quickly ended the fight with my shikai (which I had come not to use because of it's tendency to deprive many an 11th Division member of a nice drawn-out fight, so I usually only use it when fighting Kenpachi) and I hurried off to find Renji.

I found him just as he was about to go to sleep. He told me that Rukia was probably going to be executed in a month's time though there was hope for Rukia since Kuchiki was going to the headquarters tomorrow and might just ask for a reduced sentence. After all, they were siblings, right?

I asked him about the capture. He told me all about how, first, a boy with horrible lying skills had tried to stop him with a spirit bow and some arrows (I respected Uryuu a little bit more after that, because it was nice to know that he had seemed to care a bit for Rukia). He was defeated easily though. Then Ichigo had appeared and they fought.

"Still can't believe he was the one who defeated the _Menos Grande_. He doesn't even know his zanpakuto's name!" Renji commented to me. "I thought he was too inexperienced. Laughed and told him he was two thousand years too early. But after I dealt a nice big blow on him, and he looked like he was gonna die, his reiatsu suddenly increased insanely. I think there was a chance of him defeating me if Kuchiki-taichou hadn't stepped in."

I snorted. "Renji, shouldn't you know by now that it's not good to underestimate your opponent? And you don't need two thousand years to learn a zanpakuto's name nor have the experience to beat you."

Renji's face twitched. "Are you saying you can beat me?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I'm a lieutenant, just like you. Though I suppose it would be presumptuous for me to say that I could beat you in a fight, seeing as I have only been an official shinigami for... What? A year?"

Renji merely glared back, knowing full well that I was teasing him. I had beaten him once in a spar, back when he was still in our division, but that was months ago. Though I had a feeling I could possibly still defeat him now.

"You are a mutant baby," he retorted.

_What?_ "_Mutant baby?_"

"Yeah. Strange, anomalous, and too bloody young. And seriously, whose bankai looks like party decorations?"

"Wait till I spread the word that Abarai Renji has been killed by confetti," I mock-threatened him. "And don't forget you don't even have a bankai yet."

And so our argument ensued. Arguing with him was as fun as arguing with Ikkaku or Grimmjow. But then I finally drew our conversation back to the topic of Rukia's capture. Apparently, Ichigo was left dying. And even if he were to survive, his shinigami powers would be gone. It's funny how even after hearing that, I couldn't bring myself to hate Kuchiki for doing such a thing. Sure, I wasn't too pleased with him, and perhaps I was on the verge of disliking him, but he still had my respect and I still didn't think of him as that bad a guy.

I left Renji after that (well no, he kind of threw me out, saying I was taking up too much of his sleep time) and decided that I had better check on Ichigo the next day. I could only hope that Urahara would be kind enough to help him out. He did have a knack for appearing and throwing in some help at times like this. Honestly though, that ex-shinigami shopkeeper was just too unpredictable. I sometimes wonder what his motives are.

After going back to the 11th Division compound, I went to bed and didn't have a very good sleep.

...

I woke up late and didn't have time to drop by Urahara's place before school. I headed straight for class and heaved a sigh of relief when I saw Ichigo there. So he was alive. Uryuu wasn't in class though. But I wasn't too worried since if Ichigo was alive, it meant that Urahara had taken care of him and probably would've helped Uryuu out a bit too. The rest of the class didn't remember Rukia, as was to be expected. Ichigo seemed fairly disturbed by that. Our eyes met for a moment as I took my seat, but no words were exchanged.

The last day of school before the summer break ended with Ochi-sensei telling us not to study too much (except for her class), break a few rules because it makes for good memories (heh. Look where that brought me to) and to come back alive in September. I couldn't help but think of all the possibilities of dying during the summer break.

Everyone was so excited about the summer, it was funny. The atmosphere didn't match how I felt. Keigo invited us to a beach bash, though Ichigo declined, I declined, Orihime declined... Actually, pretty much everybody said they couldn't go. I found myself lost in thought... Again. If I were still a normal human student, I probably would've went. Unless Aki-chan or Hana-chan drags me off for something else.

After school, I followed Ichigo as he walked home. He knew I was following him-I didn't bother to hide-but we didn't speak. I was still expecting some tirade of accusations since I was an official shinigami, part of the group of people who were responsible for Rukia's capture.

We found Orihime strangely blocking our path soon after. Well, not so strangely as I had a feeling she wasn't as normal as we had originally thought she was. A bit like Akira and Hanaha. Apparently, Aki-chan could now produce electricity when wearing her beloved black fingerless-gloves, except that she had no idea how to use it properly yet, and Hana-chan could grow thorns from her body. I don't know what the hell that means, though I put it aside to ask Urahara later. I told them earlier during lunch that I would most likely be busy with shinigami stuff again this hols.

"Where did Rukia go?" was the first thing we heard Orihime say. "Why does nobody remember her?"

I let Ichigo do most of the explaining. And when he was done, the both of them glanced at me.

"Well, she's imprisoned now. Probably gonna get executed," I said. The looks on their faces told me I wasn't helping. As if I didn't already know that.

"Why didn't you help her? Where were you last night?" Ichigo demanded.

"I couldn't. Or I can, but then I'd probably be punished along with her. And I wouldn't be of much help if I were to be imprisoned and punished as well, now would I? Besides, I've done enough to warrant some sentence if they find out that I've been keeping her stay here a secret from them all this while," I explained.

"All those times you and Rukia were having some private discussions... it was about this, right?" Ichigo asked, more calmly now. I nodded.

"So, you're going to save her," Orihime said to Ichigo. It wasn't a question, but a statement. I found that Ichigo's eyes were still on me.

"Well, I'm not gonna stop you even though I should," I said. "In fact, I'm counting on you to save her since I can't do so myself. Need any help, just ask. I may or may not be able to give you all the help I need, but I can give you some. Though Urahara can probably provide most of the help you may need."

"Well, good luck to the both of you then! I don't want Rukia to die either," Orihime told us, somewhat cheerfully.

"Hmm~ Thanks~ I really do hope that we can save her in time," I replied. Ah, but how can I help Ichigo without Soul Society realizing?

...

I went with Ichigo to Urahara's place early the next day where Ichigo was supposedly 'crashing at a friend's house' for ten days. The shop was closed. Urahara had prepared a training session for him to get him up to standard for his rescue attempt, since he had lost his shinigami powers. I was curious as to what kind of training he was going to give Ichigo, and when I asked him if I could watch, he said I was free to join them.

I also asked Urahara about Akira's and Hanaha's new abilities. I found out that in response to the recent hollow attack (that Uryuu started), their latent abilities had come out. Desperate times, desperate measures, that sort of thing. Well, though it was hinted that this was the same for Chad and Orihime, and that they were possibly going along for the rescue attempt too, Aki-chan and Hana-chan would not be going along with them. They didn't know Rukia personally, and they'd rather stay out of shinigami business. So they would be staying in town, helping me deal with hollows while I'm busy in Soul Society.

I never did go and visit Rukia, though I really wanted to. I wondered how she was coping with her imprisonment and her upcoming execution, but I didn't want to appear too suspicious, since I wasn't supposed to really know her. I was tempted to ask Renji after he visits her later, but I figured I had already questioned him enough about Rukia. Maybe another day.

"Wow! What is this place?! Incredible! This huge cavernous chamber is right under my store!" exclaimed Urahara as we followed him down to the underground arena place. Once again, he was praising himself very loudly because Ichigo wasn't 'doing his part' and I had already been in this place before (not that I showered him with compliments about the place the first time).

"Spare us the drama, Urahara. What's Ichigo's training gonna be like today?" I asked him, making him give me a sulky face for a moment. Sometimes I just love to say things like that just to see these people's amusing expressions.

"Fine," Urahara finally said. Then he knocked Ichigo out of his body. Ichigo was thrown out quite violently, his chain of fate still connecting his spirit to his body. So he was now like any other ordinary spirit.

"Well? This is your first time you've left your body without becoming a shinigami. It's hard to breath, right? You'll find it hard to move too," Urahara told Ichigo. He went on to explain to Ichigo that the source of his reiryoku has been destroyed by Kuchiki and that he would need to regain his shinigami powers if he wanted to rescue Rukia. He went on to say that the more reiryoku one has, the easier it would be to move, and Ichigo's aim is to be able to move better than his physical body.

I thought back on the night I ended up outside my body as an ordinary spirit. At that time, I didn't think it was unnatural to find it hard to breathe because of all that negative spiritual energy that the hollows seemed to radiate. And there was no time to get used to moving because I had been about to get killed. Though I must have had some adequate level of reiryoku because I remember moving so fast I didn't even process what I did until I was in front of Gin with my chain of fate severed.

And back to Ichigo... His first lesson? Land a hit on Ururu.

Ichigo protested, as expected. He didn't know how strong Ururu could be. He didn't like the thought of a hitting a little girl at all. Well, I don't know why he didn't realize how creepy Ururu can be.

"Please out them on," she said as she dropped some equipment at his feet. "Or you'll get killed."

She said that in her typical Ururu soft child-like voice with her typical Ururu sad-expressionless face. How is that not creepy?

Well, he experienced her power firsthand right after that. Once he got up from a massive blow he received from Ururu, he immediately hurried to grab the equipment that was provided, which turned out to be a headband-looking thing. And he actually put the stupid-looking headband on and followed Urahara's ridiculously embarrassing instructions (all the armor and headband of justice crap).

It was somewhat entertaining to watch him flee from a superstring little girl. He finally did realize that he was fast enough to outrun her and dodge her punches. That was when he decided to try to hit her instead of just... Fleeing like a pathetic idiot. Hmm, I suppose one can't really call fleeing pathetic, since it could be a survival tactic... But still.

Ichigo did manage to graze Ururu's cheek, but after that, her expression kind of changed (it got even more expressionless, if that was possible). She leapt onto his outstretched arm and kicked him hard, a tactic that I planned on trying when I get the chance-I could already imagine myself using it on Spoon-san. Ichigo didn't have time to react to her swinging leg and was sent flying into the rocky wall of the underground place. I think he might've died if Urahara hadn't restrained her kick in time, and if Tessai hadn't gone behind him and helped him break his crash.

Following that, Urahara told Ichigo he passed the first lesson, which was basically to see if he could survive the first blow. And of course, by then, Ichigo no longer had any trouble breathing or moving. Urahara explained that that was because reiryoku increased the most quickly when a spirit is placed in a life-or-death situation. That pretty much explained how I had been able to move so easily when the hollows attacked me that night two years ago.

In any case, I have now concluded that Urahara's training methods were all very risky. Life-threatening risky. Remember my bankai training? There's that, and apparently, if Ichigo hadn't increased after Ururu's first blow, he'd have been killed by Ururu's subsequent hits. Not that I would've allowed it. And I don't think, despite his cheerful couldn't-care-less act, Urahara would allow Ichigo to die either. The third proof of my theory about Urahara's training was Ichigo's second lesson... Which began with Tessai using an axe to break Ichigo's chain of fate.

"I'M GONNA DIE!" Yeah. That pretty much summed it up. He was going to die.

"I know that." We'll of course Urahara knows that. He did it on purpose. What purpose, I had no idea.

"And now, you can't return to your body. The encroachment of the chain will begin soon. When it reaches your chest... A big hole will be eaten and you'll become a hollow-The End." So cheerful. Urahara's voice was so cheerful. Ah... But becoming a hollow isn't pleasant at all. I've had firsthand experience. I would know. Though Ichigo doesn't know that yet.

"Are you serious? I'll become a hollow if this disappears?!" Ichigo glanced down at the broken chain.

"Oh. You didn't know?" Urahara said, then in a smaller voice, almost to himself, "_How awkward._"

Yeah, Urahara pretty much voiced my thoughts there. Well, I guess it was kind of understandable since Ichigo hadn't exactly been taught about the shinigami arts and other stuff like that... Though I did somewhat expect Rukia to have filled him in with some of these info.

"But don't worry, there is a way to survive after your chain of fate has been cut. But only one way," Urahara went on. "You must become a shinigami."

No... Not really. I did become a... Fine. I became a shinigami after I became a hollow though. So, technically, I did survive even after turning into a hollow. But the chances of that happening to anyone were so low, I was so damn fortunate to have been able to become a shinigami. And the reason I could become a shinigami has yet to be explained.

"Lesson Two is about regaining your shinigami powers. Once it's over, you'll be a shinigami again," Urahara said. "So, shall we begin the lesson? Shattered Shaft... _GO!_"

And he dynamically pointed in a direction away from Ichigo. I glanced in that direction and at the same time, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a gigantic hole appear beneath Ichigo and Tessai (Tessai had been sitting on top of Ichigo as a means to restrain him) and they fell into it, with Ichigo yelling all the way.

"Surprised? That's my highest level fake out," Urahara laughed. I felt like an idiot for falling for his stupid trick. Judging from his yells, I bet Ichigo felt worse than me though.

I peered down the gigantic hole that Ichigo and Tessai were now in. Ichigo had his arms bound behind his back by Tessai (Bakudo no. 99, a kido spell I had yet to master). Urahara was right beside me when he yelled down the hole, "Good! Now come back up here with your arms bound like that!"

"Are you crazy?!" Ichigo yelled back. Well, it was pretty much impossible for an ordinary soul to come out of that super deep hole that Urahara named The Shattered Shaft (made by Ururu I think) without using his/her hands. The only way would be to solidify the reishi in the air and walk up with the solidified reishi acting as support. But that would require some degree of reiryoku control. In other words, Ichigo most likely wouldn't be able to get out of there if he didn't regain his shinigami powers.

"He'll need to become a shinigami to get out, won't he?" I asked Urahara as the encroachment of Ichigo's chain of fate began, after Urahara had explained to him that while the encroachment process would usually take months or years to complete, the Shattered Shaft had a gas that stimulates the encroachment such that it would take only three days to complete. (Does three days sound familiar? Yes it does.) Speaking of turning into a hollow though, it occurred to me that I could've remained an ordinary injured spirit for months before turning into a hollow if a) my chain of fate hasn't been severed so close to be chest by the adjucha slash that it even wounded me and drew blood b) the process hasn't been accelerated by the attack of a few more hollows after Gin left. It must have been excruciating but all I remember of it was numbness and a hollow ache that I used to associate with hunger (which meant having an empty stomach, but apparently, can be experienced with an empty chest too). Now, I can only be thankful that none of those hollows had eaten me up before I turned into a hollow myself.

"Hmm~ Yes. Probably," replied Urahara.

"But how is he gonna just whip out some shinigami powers out of nowhere? Especially now that Kuchiki-taichou has destroyed the shinigami powers that Rukia gave him."

"It's not impossible. It all depends on him now. I believe that he has shinigami powers of his own. He just needs to awaken them before becoming a hollow."

I was silent for a moment as I thought this through my mind. Naturally having shinigami powers was possible-I myself seemed to have them naturally. But... "What will you do if he does become a hollow."

"Then we will have to kill him."

I stared at Urahara's serious expression. "Must we?"

"What else would you have us do? You should know, as a shinigami, that hollows have to be killed, cleansed and sent to soul society."

I stared at the floor this time. "Yeah. I suppose. Not that I've been a very good shinigami. I do hope he succeeds. Otherwise, I might have to save Rukia myself. And then what? Bring her back to the human world where Ichigo's no longer living in? How do we hide from Soul Society? I can't imagine anyone being pleased with this arrangement either. Not Ichigo. Not Rukia. Not Orihime nor Chad nor Renji not Kuchiki-taichou. Hell, probably not even Aizen."

"Hmm~ As I said, everything depends on Kurosaki-san now," Urahara replied. "Though... Are you supposed to be here in the first place?"

"... What's the time?"

"Hard to tell in here, but it should be approximately half-past-seven in the morning. We started around some time past six I think."

"CRAP! I was supposed to meet Ikkaku for a rematch fifteen minutes ago!" I yelled and quickly headed for the exit. I turned back once to wish Ichigo good luck and saw that Urahara looked quite amused. Was I that amusing or was it a shinigami thing again?

In any case, another thought bothered me. One that I had never really thought about before... If hollows have their souls purified and sent to soul society after being killed, and shinigami have their souls reborn in the human world after being killed, then what happens if I'm killed when I'm in my Arrancar form? For that matter, what happens when any Arrancar dies?

* * *

**That's all for now. The next chapter's almost done. I just need to write/copy it all out into my computer (cuz I wrote it somewhere else) and do some minor editing. Well, if you guys see any mistakes, feel free to let me know cuz I don't have a beta for this story yet. Thanks ^^**

**Oh, and please review~ any comment is fine, and constructive criticism is much appreciated. For those who have been reviewing, thanks for being my motivation~ ^^**


	29. Chapter 29: Preparations

**Okay guys I know its been... a while... Gomenasai _ I have reasons but I shan't waste your time explaining myself... I will try and update faster... Oh but please do read the Author's Note at the end of this chapter. It is IMPORTANT. If you wanna get a say in how the story progresses, READ it and follow the instructions. I won't be able to continue the next chapter without your feedback. Thanks~ ^_^**

**Here we go, typical disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, now on with the story~ Hope you enjoy this chapter~**

* * *

Chapter 29: Preparations

_"I do know my own mind... The trouble is, my mind changes and then I have to get acquainted with it all over again."_

I did not have to go search for Renji when the day was over. After my rematch with Ikkaku (he lost again, of course), Kenpachi dumped a whole stack of paper work on me, some of which were days past their due date. Well I couldn't really imagine Kenpachi doing paperwork nor could I imagine Yachiru doing them. So who has been doing the paperwork before I became lieutenant? _Yumichika? _

In any case, I finished the paperwork some time past dinner (well, it didn't really take me that long but I procrastinated a bit and spent quite some time doodling instead). That was when Renji came into the room (I was in the main office of the 11th Division compound-which looked exactly the way it was when I left it a month ago) and sat himself comfortably on the floor.

"Renji, what are you doing here?" I asked. He looked quite bothered. No prizes guessing what-or rather, who-he was bothered about.

"What are the chances of Kuchiki-taichou requesting for a reduced sentence for Rukia?" He sighed. I thought about it for a moment. Really thought about it. And realised how glum the situation looked.

"Five to ten percent. I don't really know what kind of relationship he has with his sister, but first, I've always felt that he's a very responsible shinigami and very law-abiding. That is why I think it's unlikely for him to ask for a reduced sentence. However, there should probably be that little bit of him that wants to keep Rukia alive. They're siblings after all. But I can also imagine him letting them execute Rukia even if he doesn't like it, because he thinks that's the right thing to do."

"Rukia believes that he would kill her himself if he could," Renji finally said.

"Nah. I wouldn't go to that extreme," I replied. "I mean, he's not that heartless, or he doesn't seem that heartless to me. And she's his sister. That has to count for something, no matter how cold and aloof he may appear."

There was a silence then, that I broke when I couldn't stand it. "So, you visited her, right?"

"Yeah..."

"How is she?"

"I'm not sure. Sad? Sulky? Depressed?" He sighed again.

"How did she react to your lieutenant status? It's a real pity. I'm sure you didn't want her to find our about your promotion in such a manner."

"Yeah... She teased me about it. Praised me in a very sarcastic and mocking manner."

I tried to imagine the scene in my head. It wasn't very hard. It seemed like the kind of thing she might do. In fact, it seemed like the kind of thing I might do if I were in her position.

"Ah," I smiled. "Well, she must be genuinely glad for you then. Or she wouldn't have done that."

"Hmph... Why though?"

"Why tease you? Isn't that what friends do? I'm not her and I think I tease you enough. In her case, she could also be trying to make you feel better. Though I guess she failed."

"Make me feel better? She's the one getting executed, not me!"

"Yeah, but you were, and still are, quite worried for her and feeling miserable for her, right? Didn't you feel a bit better after all her teasing? Or at least while you were being teased?"

"Perhaps. Damn. You don't even know her and you seem to understand her better than I do."

"Well... You just have to put yourself in her shoes," I replied. I did not mention that I actually did know Rukia. Though I knew her for a way shorter period of time than Renji. I have also somehow been trained to read people better since... Since I became a hollow? Perhaps it was because I started to realize how many people wear masks most of the time, be it literally or metaphorically. Including me. Kind of.

...

I dropped by Orihime and Chad's training the next day. They were being trained by a black talking cat named Yoruichi, who was also a very good friend of Urahara. They seemed to be having a lot more fun that Ichigo though. He was still struggling to run up the steep rocky walls of the Shattered Shaft with his arms bound. It was amazing how far he could run up like that though.

"Are you sure he'll make it?" I asked Urahara as Ichiho lay on the ground in the Shattered Shaft, exhausted after running up about ten feet of the wall. Urahara merely laughed behind his fan in response.

"Hey! Are you hungry?" Jinta yelled down the hole at Ichigo.

"Of course not! I'm a disembodied soul! How can I be hungry?!" Ichigo yelled back.

"Eh? If you become a hollow, you'll get hungry," I told him. "Well actually, you can get hungry when you're a shinigami too."

"Well if you're just thirsty, it's okay. Drink some of my spit," added Jinta, as he let his spit drip down the hole. The little brat. He even persuaded Ururu to join in. I really pitied Ichigo then.

"Hey, Urahara. What is Yoruichi?" I asked, after deciding that it was not worth my time getting irritated by Jinta's childishness.

"Huh?"

"Yoruichi. The talking cat. What is he? He must be some kind of spirit, right?"

"Oh! Yoruichi-san is a..." Urahara stopped short when he saw my don't-give-me-some-nonsense-or-vague-cryptic-weird-crap-answer face, and continued in a slightly more serious tone, "... Was a shinigami. Like me."

"... The cat was a shinigami," I repeated after him. I was obviously unconvinced. How can a cat wield a zanpakuto? In it's mouth? And did it wear the normal shinigami garb...? How does it perform kidō spells? "Unless shinigami can turn into... Cats...?"

"Ah... Yoruichi-san can switch from human form to cat form at will. It's not something all shinigami can do."

I stared at him. "I didn't even know its possible to turn into an animal like that! How big is Yoruichi as a human?"

Even when I assume my Resurrección form, I'm not completely an animal, and I still remain the size I am as a human/shinigami.

"You'll probably find out sooner or later," Urahara said. "Yoruichi-san will be following them to Soul Society."

Or, I could ask one of the shinigami in Soul Society. But what are the chances of me finding a shinigami who knows Yoruichi but will not question how and where I've heard the name from? Especially since Urahara said Yoruichi was like him, they must both be exiled shinigami. And I realized something else after that.

"Urahara, if I end up getting exiled from Soul Society, will you mind if I join you here at your shop?" Because if I ended up getting too involved in the rescue of Rukia, I would get punished by Soul Society. And if I wanted to run away, I would need a place to run away to. I wasn't even sure if Aizen still needed me. I couldn't really bear the thought of it thought. Could I just return to my ordinary life as if nothing had happened? Could I move back into my old apartment just like that? With all the memories of my time as a proper official shinigami, staying in Soul Society, sleeping in the 11th Division compound...

Urahara froze and stared at me for a long time. I started to feel a little uncomfortable under his gaze, so I felt the need to explain myself. "If I end up doing something that isn't bad enough to get executed but umm... I mean, keeping in mind that I'm an Arrancar and Aizen might come after me and all... I might end up following him... But... I just wanted to know if... Umm..."

I trailed off. The awkwardness was killing me.

"Well," Urahara lowered his fan and turned around, heading towards the exit, his haori billowing out behind him. "If you want a place to return to, you're welcome here. I trust that you know what the limits are though."

I sighed in relief and grinned. "Thank you very much, Urahara-san!"

He merely waved my thanks away with his fan. "No problem."

...

I spent most of my time in Soul Society sparring with the 11th Division members, more so than usual. I treated it as training practice as well as a distraction from my worries. A good fight allowed me to momentarily forget all the complicated shit that was going on at the moment. I still felt really bad for not playing a more active role in helping Rukia, because I was putting my shinigami status and relationships over her life. I wasn't selfless enough to risk all of that for a friend's life. How horrible is that?

Okay, so we weren't that close. But we had been friends nonetheless, and I knew that Ichigo, Renju and maybe Kuchiki would miss her if she died. And if she died, I would be partly at fault because I could've done something to prevent it but chose not to. After all, did Rukia not put her own life and safety at risk to give Ichigo shinigami powers to protect his family? And they had barely known each other then. And now, Ichigo was risking his own life for her. Orihime and Chad were about to risk theirs to protect Ichigo. I had no idea what was on Uryuu's mind (neither did Orihime and Chad), and it didn't matter if he was training to join them in their rescue mission. The fact was, I should be doing more. I could do more. Unlike them, I was already in Soul Society, with friends there. I could easily ask Renji to let me visit Rukia, and then bust her out of there. Or maybe it wouldn't be that simple, but I did have a higher chance of rescuing Rukia than them at the moment.

If my shinigami friends noticed my growing edginess, they did not mention it... Other than the time when Yachiru gave me a whole bag of gigantic plum sweets for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

I just really wish that I could choose whose side to be on: Aizen's, Soul Society's or Ichigo's... or that I didn't have to make such a decision.

...

I did not get to witness Ichigo's gain in power. I did get a summary of it from Urahara when I dropped by the shop in the late afternoon. Apparently, Ichigo had reached the state of gaining a hollow mask before he found his shinigami powers. But his sword barely had a blade (which had been broken by Kuchiki). Then Urahara had tested his new shinigami powers by asking him to knock off his hat with his zanpakuto. They started fighting and Ichigo kept running away at first, but after awhile, he seemed to realize how to release his zanpakuto, whose name was Zangetsu. That's when he managed to create a really huge gigantic crack in the ground with one slice of his sword, successfully knocking Urahara's hat off in the process. His new zanpakuto had a bandages hilt, no guard, and a black blade shaped like a gigantic elegant cleaver (as long as Ichigo was tall, which meant that it's probably longer than my hollow sword which was as big as me but I'm shorter than Ichigo) and had a silver edge.

"It will most likely be constantly in its shikai form since Kurosaki-san can't really control his vast amount of reiryoku well," Urahara commented as we watched Ichigo sleep. "He's quite a scary kid."

"Scary huh? I bet Kenpachi would love to spar with him," I muttered more to myself than Urahara, who heard me anyway.

"Hmm... Are you free for the next seven days?" Urahara asked. I thought about it.

"Probably. Unless there's any urgent shinigami business to do or paperwork to complete. Why?"

"Drop by when you can, then. I'd like to have you spar with Kurosaki-san on some days. I'm planning on giving him the fighting experience he needs, and you can help him out in that aspect."

"Ha! Of course! I'm the lieutenant of the 11th Division after all," I grinned, glad to be of some help, with some shinigami-Arrancar-hybrid pride showing up. "I would certainly like to find out just how strong he is... Can he beat me?"

"At the moment, I doubt it. But he'll probably be able to, by the end of the seven days," Urahara replied. "Say, what were you doing today? I expected you to drop by earlier."

Now to that topic. The main point was one sentence long, which was what I said to Urahara, "Soul Society's final decision: Twenty-five days from now, Rukia will be taken to the Garden of Judgement for execution."

I did provide him with all the details of what I did in the morning though.

I had woken up to a bucket of water thrown into my face. It was Yachiru who was responsible. She told me that she just heard that it had been confirmed that Rukia was going to be executed and thought I would be interested to know that. So, despite waking up with soaking wet hair, a wet yukata (I had taken to wearing traditional Japanese clothes after living in Soul Society for some time) and a wet face, I thanked her gratefully, changed into my shihakushō and shunpo-ed to the 6th Division compound.

When the compound was within sight, I stopped for a moment.

I could see Kuchiki turning around to face two familiar people along an open corridor. One of then was my very own captain, Zaraki Kenpachi. The other one was the most annoying captain I have met, Ichimaru Gin.

I stood on the roof of the building beside the building they were in, and decided to watch them from there, as I could hear them fine from where I was. It didn't seem like something I wanted to interrupt.

"What do two lieutenant-less captains want with me?" I heard Kuchiki ask.

"Well, we thought that perhaps, Kuchiki-taichou would be sad about his sister's impeding execution," Ichimaru replied, and just as I was thinking about how calm Kuchiki indeed appeared to be... "And it seems like Zaraki-taichou does have a lieutenant here with him."

He glanced up at me when he said that, grinning as usual. Kuchiki followed his gaze and saw me too. My face twitched involuntarily. That snake. I admit I hadn't really bothered to suppress my reiatsu to its minimum, but still. He sensed me quite well.

"Chizuki! What are you doing here?" Kenpachi asked, finally noticing me.

"Searching for you," I lied. I was lying more often now, wasn't I?

"Come join us, Neko-chan," Ichimaru called out. So I ended up shunpo-ing to them and landed behind Kenpachi. So much for staying out of their conversation.

"Well, I was about to say, why should he be sad? The blood of a criminal only dishonorable a distinguished family," Kenpachi said. "Don't you agree, Chizuki?"

"Yeah, I guess," I replied, while in my mind I was more like: _Eh? What? No, I don't... Well, I do. I would usually agree, but... Capital punishment? No, that's just too severe, especially for what seemed like a petty crime to me. _

"Hmm... How surprising, a commoner who understands the ways of nobility," Kuchiki commented. Funny how he could sound disdainful even with barely an change in his expressionless face.

"Not really. I've always been observant. Perhaps I can be of assistance to you," Kenpachi said, his crazy smile widening. "If you wish, I'll behead the criminal before the execution."

I was careful to keep my face neutral despite what my own captain had just said. If I were to be honest, it stung a little, knowing a great friend of mine wouldn't mind killing another friend of mine. And it was different from Kuchiki. I knew Kuchiki-taichou was the type to uphold the law. And while I didn't expect Kenpachi to actually break any law, I didn't expect him to approve so eagerly of such a thing either. Perhaps I didn't know him as well as I thought I did.

"I'm not sure if one with your skills could actually manage the job," Kuchiki said in reply to Kenpachi's suggestion.

"Want to test me?" Kenpachi grinned, already in the mood for a fight.

"Do you want to be tested?" Kuchiki asked, somewhat dangerously. In that instant, Ichimaru and I had the same idea. We shunpo-ed off to the next building with Kenpachi bound tightly with a roll of spiritual fabric using Bakudō.

"Sorry about that, Kuchiki-taichou! It wasn't my intention to provoke you," Ichimaru said amicably as Kenpachi protested loudly and struggled against the binding.

"Ichimaru! Untie me! Let me cut him! What are you doing, Chizuki?! Untie me at once! That's an order!"

"Ah? But even if I release the kidō spell I used, you'll still need Ichimaru-san to release his too," I said in a placating voice, hoping to calm him down. "Besides, it's not really wise to engage in a fight with Kuchiki-taichou now you know."

"Give our regards to the little sister," Ichimaru said politely to Kuchiki and we left.

When the 6th Division compound was finally far out of sight, we released a very annoyed Kenpachi.

"Looks like we really do think alike, Neko-chan," Ichimaru commented to me, probably referring to how we automatically bound Kenpachi and left the scene at the same time.

"And that isn't a good thing," grumbled Kenpachi. "Why didn't you let me cut him?! And you're supposed to listen to your own captain, Chizuki."

"Ne, Neko-chan, do you really think that Kuchiki Rukia should be executed?" Ichimaru suddenly asked, with just the right amount of mock-concern and curiosity in his voice. I stared at him with a blank face, unwilling to reveal too much of my thoughts.

"Oh, she should be punished alright," I replied smoothly. "I'm not sure about execution though. I don't think I have been here long enough to understand such matters."

Ichimaru laughed, though I couldn't tell what was so funny about my reply. Kenpachi, on the other hand, thew me a half-exasperated half-skeptical look. Then he said something about have something else better to do than to waste time with a snake, and left after that.

"Ichimaru-san, what did you actually visit Kuchiki-taichou for?" I asked as we watched Kenpachi leave. The snake seemed to hesitate for a moment, much to my curiosity.

"I was just checking to see how Kuchiki-taichou was faring after that announcement," he replied. "And incidentally... Since when were you so polite to me? What happened to Hebi-kun?"

Oh. That was probably why he hesitated earlier then. I had called him Ichimaru-san instead of the usual nickname. I hadn't intended to do that. It had been a subconscious thing. I fidgeted, feeling a little uncomfortable. When I thought about it, it didn't seem right, somehow, in this serious turn of events, to call a captain by a nickname, even if the captain was Ichimaru Gin.

"Somehow... calling you by a nickname doesn't seem... appropriate anymore," I told him.

"Perhaps you're starting to feel the danger of being so informal with a captain?" Ichimaru suggested, almost teasingly.

"Yeah, I suppose. It's... Actually starting to feel... odd... Being on such friendly terms with you," I admitted and glanced away. He was silent for so long that I glanced back at him.

"You've changed, Yoruka-san," he said when I glanced back at him, still grinning away. "Well, don't change too much, hmm? Or I'll get lonely, y'know."

I blinked, hardly believing what I saw or heard. No, it must be my horrible interpretation. It had just been made evident to me that I didn't know Kenpachi as well as I thought, so perhaps I don't know Ichimaru as well as I thought too. Because even though he was smiling in his usual mocking way, I thought I sensed honesty in his words. But it isn't possible for him to really feel lonely even if I change... Is it?

"Do you actually want me to call you by a nickname?" I asked incredulously. Well, this topic itself was rather ridiculous. How did Rukia's execution lead to nicknames?

"No, I just think that Neko-chan is more fun, that's all. Don't become too boring, like many of the other shinigami are, Yoruka-san." And it sounded like a threat, a knife hidden behind his grin. As if I was going to be in great danger if I no longer interest him or something. And there was the other thing he seemed to have suggested. That I have become a different person from the Neko-chan he knew. Well, if he thought I was becoming a polite goody-two-shoes or something, he was wrong. Though perhaps... I've become more serious now?

"I'll take your advice," I replied, somewhat warily. "And... Are you sure you didn't visit Kuchiki-taichou just to make him feel worse about his sister's execution?"

"Sā~" he merely replied and laughed as he left. Our chat ended there, with the feeling that we've suddenly grown more distant from one conversation.

I met Renji later on. He was furious. Understandably so, considering what he had heard earlier in the morning. He was furious at a number of things however, the first being Rukia's execution. Then the second being Kuchiki's seemingly uncaring view of it. The last being Rukia's frustrating behavior.

"I can't believe the both of them!" Renji raged, wringing his hands in front of him as if he were strangling something. "First she was so quiet and sad, then she suddenly burst into cheerfulness and claimed that she wasn't upset about the execution! And she even said that it would make escape more interesting! What escape?! There is no escape! And she teased me about my eyebrows! Again! Freaking irritating! And Kuchiki-taichou! Is he really gonna sit back and allow this to happen?!"

"... Eyebrows... You guys really are good friends..."

"Huh?"

"You evidently care about her a lot. And Rukia seems to be constantly trying to distract you from worrying about her, so..."

"Yeah, I guess. But... She's going to die," Renji said softly, looking at the ground, sounding really miserable and depressed. I could understand him, somewhat. There were people I really wouldn't be able to handle the deaths of. Like Akirai or Hanaha... Or Yachiru or Ikkaku... Or Toshiro. Or Grimmjow. Or Ichimaru.

And I didn't know what I could do to comfort him about that.

...

The following days were spent doing usual shinigami work (such as getting rid of troublesome hollows) whenever it is needed (which wasn't often because being a lieutenant actually meant less ordinary-hollow-killing), sparring with the 11th Division members (which trains my stamina and trains their speed, because I was fast but had to prolong the fight to a good 11th Division length of time), moping around with Renji, helping Yachiru do stuff, chatting with Matsumoto, or helping out with Ichigo's training.

Because there wasn't really enough time to teach him properly, the way Kenpachi taught me, kendo and all, Ichigo had to learn through fighting itself. Which was good enough. He was a quick learner, and seemed to get a lot stronger each time I spar with him. I also got to experience his ridiculous reiryoku first hand.

The first time we sparred, I automatically told him not to bother going easy on me. But even after his experience with Ururu and Urahara, he still held back a bit when he fought me. I could feel the hesitation in his attacks. Maybe it was because I was a classmate, but I made sure he went all out soon enough. I myself held back, because I wanted to test his abilities first. It turned out that once he was really into the fight, his reiatsu would increase automatically, and his speed and strength would also rise in power. However, his skill wasn't up to standard yet. That would probably be fixed after a few fights.

Our fight lasted longer than I thought it would. In fact, it lasted longer that any fight I've had with Kenpachi. I did keep my reiatsu suppressed as usual, and I refrained from using any of my shikai abilities, because I had intended to test out his stamina as well, which proved to be quite strong. He seemed to have this unimaginably massive store of reiryoku that could surpass that of a captain that kept him going no matter how much we fought. Well, I was flattered when Ichigo admitted that he had no idea I was this good at fighting after the fight ended. I later decided that I would have to start giving him everything I've got for the following sparring sessions because he would need to be able to defeat me first, or he wouldn't stand a chance against the captains, no matter how long he can drag a fight out. I didn't really understand why Urahara didn't spar with him himself, since he was captain-class and I was only a lieutenant. I asked him about it after my match with Ichigo.

"I wanted to see you fight," was his reply. I pointed out that he had seen me fight with my swords before, during my bankai training. Come to that, will Ichigo be able to defeat the captains if he doesn't achieve bankai?

"That was different. At that time, you were fighting with your swords and they were playing a game. And that was one year ago. Just now, you were fighting with a fellow human, without any restrictions other than the ones you've put on yourself," he said, grinning. Then his smile turned thoughtful. "I'm curious to find out just how strong you are now. But if there's one thing I know, you are stronger than the average lieutenant."

Hmm...? "I am?"

"You've defeated your captain more than once before, haven't you? And you managed to beat Kurosaki-san even without using any of your shikai special abilities, whereas Abarai-san was losing to him before Byakuya-san stepped in, right? And that was when Kurosaki-san was still using his old sword."

I blinked. On one hand, I was internally being egoistic about being stronger than Renji, but... "Well, you're probably still more suited to help him train to beat the captains than me."

Urahara laughed. "Take it as training for yourself too~! Oh and it would help if you were to give him tips as you spar~!"

I stared at him. He was evidently enjoying himself and _slacking_. Poor Ichigo. I guess the least I could do for him now is to impart all the knowledge I have... or as much as I can within such a short period of time.

"Anyway, while it isn't good to underestimate others, you shouldn't keep doubting your abilities either," Urahara suddenly said. "Just think about how much you've achieved up till now. If I were to compare you with Kurosaki-san, I'd say your growth rates are roughly the same, which is to say, very fast. In terms of reiryoku, Kurosaki-san has an unimaginable amount of reiryoku, of which only less than half have been revealed, which he has not enough control over. You have skilled reiryoku control, probably because your reiryoku, while greater than expected, is a lot less than Kurosaki-san's. However, from what I have observed so far, your reiryoku grows unusually rapidly as you fight stronger opponents. Which is why I'm making you train him. I have a feeling your reiryoku will increase by half after this week of training."

"Umm... okay? Thanks? That's good to hear?"

"I won't be surprised if the captains in Soul Society who know you know about your rapidly increasing reiryoku as well. That's probably one of the reasons why they promoted you."

"Your point is?"

Urahara stared at me like I was an idiot. "I'm sure you'll figure it out."

...

That night, when I returned to Soul Society, I told Kenpachi I wanted to spar with him every alternate day from then on. He was naturally, delighted.

"Don't you ever get bored of fighting the same person though?" I questioned him when I saw that wide grin split his face.

"Not if they're strong! Plus didn't you know? You get stronger each time I fight you, so it gets more fun every time!"

Hmm... So Urahara was right. I thought about it. "Kenpachi..."

"Yes?"

"I called the 3rd Division Captain 'Ichimaru-san' yesterday. And he didn't seem happy."

"Ah, probably because that snake finds your nickname for him rather affectionate," Kenpachi said while Yachiru demanded, "Why did you stop calling him 'Hebi-kun'?"

"Uh... Isn't it more appropriate and respectful or polite for a lieutenant to call a captain by their title? I'm not even adding '-taichou' to his name."

Kenpachi snorted, and ruffled my hair. "You call me 'Kenpachi'. Well I insist on that anyway. And you don't mind anyone not giving you the proper respect your position demands-"

"If I've gained the respect of others, I've gained it. I don't want people to be forced to respect me when I haven't earned it," I interrupted. "Besides, its not like anyone has been disrespectful to me. Regardless of whatever names our division members such as Ikkaku call me by."

"Exactly~!" Yachiru exclaimed.

"What?"

"Nicknames have nothing to do with respect! I respect Shiro-chan but I still call him Shiro-chan anyway~!" she explained cheerfully. Well, she calls everyone by a nickname... Even the Captain Commander...

"Well, it's not like many people actually call him 'taichou'..." Kenpachi muttered.I That's true... Once again, poor Toshiro-kun.

"Anyway, I think Cheshā-chan is one of the few people to get along with Creepy-taichou! So it should be fine! Cheshā-chan should just call Creepy-taichou whatever she wants!" Yachiru exclaimed.

And that was the conclusion of our discussion. I realise that my division members, though they often seem like a reckless bunch of fight-loving shinigami, they actually have quite good advice to give. Ah... but now that the awkwardness with Ichimaru is there, how do I kill said awkwardness? Hmm... Maybe calling him Creepy-taichou would work. I must say, that's not bad a nickname Yachiru has for him. Oh well, hopefully, I'll be able to wing it when the time comes. I certainly don't want Ichimaru to become a captain to fear. The irony: teasing and nicknames are less offensive than politeness.

* * *

**IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!**

**I have been considering whether I should have Chii defect from Soul Society or not, since she needs to return to Las Noche sooner or later... So, I've decided to have a poll. Please vote for the option you prefer or review or pm me your opinion~ Oh, and I will only close the poll when I get 30 votes, but if I don't get 30 responses by the end of June, I'll just have to make do with whatever you guys have given me...****  
**

**Anyway, since it'll be awhile before the next chapter comes up, do any of you have any requests for side-stories/extras/omakes? If you do, just review or pm me and I'll see what I can do~! Ja~ That's it for now I guess... Thanks to those who are still with me after all my temporary hiatuses~ Oh and please review~!**

**Edit: A guest user notified me that there may be some confusion regarding what I mean by 'defect'... So for clarification, when I say Chii 'defects' I mean follow Aizen, Gin-style (that is to say, she will appear like she's betraying Soul Society when she isn't... not really...) **


	30. Chapter 30: Of Plans and Ryoka

**Hey guys~ I know it's been a while, so thanks for bearing with me As my A-Levels have yet to pass, I'll still be studying hard for it. I've managed to squeeze out this chapter though, and you can expect another chapter in a month or so before I go on another hiatus. Anyway, based on the poll and reviews, I have made the decision on where Chii will end up when the White Trio defects from Soul Society. You'll see. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not, and will sadly never, own Bleach**

* * *

Chapter 30: Of Plans and Ryoka

_"Life has many ways of testing a person's will, either by having nothing happen at all or having everything happen all at once."_

I doubt I would have remembered it if my friends hadn't asked me about it. It was the end of July and also the end of Ichigo's training. By then, Ichigo was able to beat me six out of the ten times we sparred. And each time I won, it was because I ended the fight earlier than I usually would if I had been fighting an 11th Division Shinigami, mainly because I knew I wouldn't be able to defeat him if the fight dragged on for too long. Naturally, my stamina couldn't match his. Still, I managed to give him as many fighting tips as I could remember.

Now back to what I nearly forgot. Aki-chan was inviting me for the Fireworks Festival, which would take place the next day, and I had declined, because Kenpachi had dumped yet another stack of paperwork for me to do. Instead, I let Perrito go in my place. That was when Hanaha asked about those apprentices of mine i.e. Hinata, Harumi and Hikari. I had yet to reveal to them what my fracciones really were. Maybe after Rukia is rescued.

"We haven't seen them since the first time we met them," Hana-chan was saying. And when was the time my friends met my fracciones? Some time last year. That was when I realized what had slipped my mind in all the recent chaos of events—the termination of my exile.

Last year, approximately two weeks into August, my fracciones appeared in the human world and informed me that my exile was to be lifted one year later. If they meant exactly one year (and if Aizen had been the one who sent them, then I wouldn't be surprised if he meant for my exile to be lifted exactly one year later, down to the exact second), that would mean that I would be allowed to return to Soul Society a little more than two weeks from now, on the 17th of August. That would, incidentally, be the date of Rukia's execution.

I thought about the coincidence, and the possibility that Aizen had, in fact, planned everything right from the start. Well, it didn't seem very possible… In fact, that idea was a rather far-fetched one… And yet, the coincidence was just too suspicious to ignore.

Did Aizen expect me to defect from Soul Society just after Rukia is executed? And was I to defect for that matter? Crap, what was I to do then? I couldn't just up and leave what had become my home. Betray all my friends. And what about school? And if he had really planned for me to leave Soul Society after Rukia's execution (or before? Or during?), it meant that he had foreseen the execution _one year_ before it was scheduled. _Months_ before Rukia even came into the human world. Either Aizen was a fortune-teller or he was a really evil, really smart and really manipulative mastermind. I'd bet on the latter.

After awhile of thinking about the matter, I decided not to give myself too much of a headache. I might as well confront Aizen about it. On second thought, the idea of talking to Aizen about this was a very scary one. Hell, the idea of talking to Aizen about anything was scary. Why, for all I know, he could be predicting when I'd pay him a visit. But it wasn't like I had much of a choice, now did I?

…

The next day, I woke up especially early in the morning for two reasons. One: it was six a.m. and I didn't think many people would be awake yet. I was going to have a conversation with Aizen about anti-Soul Society matters and the less people the better. Okay, so I was paranoid, but better safe than sorry. Two: I had a load of paperwork to finish and I was hoping to be able to finish it by evening so that I could try and attend the Fireworks Festival.

I changed out my yukata and put on my shihakushō, strapped on my sword and snuck off to the 5th Division compound. The sun had not risen, and I didn't see anyone on my way there. When I entered the compound, I followed Aizen's reiatsu to his captain's quarters. Oh no. I did not want to _talk _to him, let alone _wake_ him up. At _6 _in the _morning_.

I paced nervously outside his door for a while, until I heard a sound followed by, "Chizuki?"

I nearly jumped, while thinking, oh Kami I'm dead oh shit how amIgonnaexlplainwhyI'mherewhenIshouldn'tbehereohcrap_ohmyfreakin_—oh. It was just Aizen. Not some random 5th Division Shinigami. I think this will be the first and last time I'm ever _relieved_ to see Aizen. And he had a most amused expression on his face.

"Chizuki?" he repeated softly, with just the right amount of curiosity, concern and humor. "Sorry, did I scare you?"

"Ah no. I was just a little surprised. I didn't think you were awake…" I whispered hastily.

"Oh, alright. What have you come to see me about?" Aizen asked, still whispering. He sounded so _kind_ I wanted to shake someone and cry so badly. You know, dramatic anime-style, with tears flowing down in rivers.

"Ah gomenasai… Aizen-taichou… Ano… I wanted to ask you about the 17th of August," I replied, my nervousness returning.

"You came to ask me about Rukia-san's execution?" Oh he just had to be difficult about it, didn't he? He had to know what I came here for, just from the fact that we were whispering so softly. Though I bet if I were to ask, he'd say that it was out of consideration for those who are still sleeping.

"… No… Not really… I meant what happens to _me_ on the 17th of August."

He blinked. "But what will happen to you then?"

"You're lifting it then, right?"

"Lifting what?"

Oh he was so infuriating that my nervousness got stabbed in the guts by my annoyance with him. So I decided to hell with it, put on my blank face, and said in a voice with the right amount of politeness and exasperation, "Aizen-_sama_."

It worked. Just calling him _master_ instead of captain _worked_. His slightly confused and kindly smile changed into the ghost of smirk before changing back to a kind smile.

"Why don't we continue this conversation in my office?" he suggested. Then he led me to his office. We had small talk along the way. Mostly it was Aizen telling me that he had been awake when I arrived and was changing into his captain's uniform when I was pacing outside the door. He was _awake_ when I arrived. Don't tell me he was actually _expecting_ me to arrive… When I asked, he merely smiled and said no, it was just a coincidence. I pondered whether to believe him or not.

When we were 'safely' in his office, we continued our previous conversation.

"So, this is about the termination of your exile, isn't it, _Sangre_?" he asked, smirking. And there was it. What the both of us had been hiding but knowing all along. He knew I was Sangre but kept quiet. I knew he knew and had kept quiet.

"Yes. So how does it work?"

"Well, I am planning to leave Seireitei on the 17th of August. Suffice to say, you'll be coming with me," Aizen said. Then paused. A strange glint lit up in his eyes as he continued, "That was the original plan. To 'kidnap' you so that on the off chance I require a spy in Soul Society, you will still be able to return to Seireitei to aid me. However, it seems like the Gotei 13 have taken a liking to you. Well, Kurotsuchi finds you more interesting than likeable, but… same difference. Which means that kidnapping you will no longer be an option, since we're likely to have shinigami coming after us in a rescue attempt. Of course we could have you join us publicly, which will label you as a traitor like the rest of us…"

I gulped at that. _Traitor. _The word lingered in my mind like an echo. Aizen's smile widened. I realized something. Even when Gin's smile stretches across his face like it's split his face into two if he smiled any wider, even when Gin's up-to-no-good grin becomes snake-like and chillingly creepy, I still found Aizen's smirk the most poisonous.

"Partially out of consideration for you and your reserves about being labeled a traitor," Aizen continued, which sounded extremely suspicious. "I have _something else_ planned for you instead."

Yeah… Definitely suspicious. I raised an eyebrow, as I rubbed my elbow nervously. "Something else? And what's the other reason for this… new… plan?"

"Don't worry about it," Aizen said pleasantly. "All you have to do is show up on the day itself, and from the very minute we leave for Hueco Mundo, you will be Sangre. Chizuki will be no more."

Wait. What. What? What? What the hell does that mean? And if Chizuki is no more…

"Eto… Aizen-sama… What about school? And my apartment? And well… every aspect of my human life? And just wondering, but do Tousen-sama and Ichimaru-sama know that I am Sangre?"

"You'll just have to leave it all behind. Remember, after the 17th of August, you'll be an Arrancar. Not a human, not a shinigami. Of course, Soul Society might have an artificial soul, or should I say, _modsoul_, act as your substitute. Or… they may just wipe your existence from the memories of your friends and classmates." Aizen shrugged. "Who knows… As for your identity, I am currently the only one who knows… Unless you've told someone else about it? After all, perhaps you're not aware but Sangre is quite different from Chizuki, perhaps due to your Hollowfication. Even I took awhile to identify them as the same person."

… Urahara. Urahara knows. Will he do anything if he finds out I'm gone? And Perrito. On one hand, Perrito would enjoy being me. On the other hand… Wait. He knows I have a mod—why am I even surprised? I should probably just assume he knows everything, right? But Soul Society probably does not know about Perrito yet… Though they'll probably find out after I'm gone. Oh dear. What if they killed her?

"Well, if that's all you have to ask, then I think this conversation should end. The sun should have started rising by now," Aizen said. And that was it. I snuck out of his Division compound easily, because there were only one or two shinigami about.

As I strolled back to my Division compound, I suddenly had a strange displaced feeling, like I had forgotten something, or I was missing something. Weird. Something was off but I couldn't identify what. So I ignored the feeling and pretty soon, I all but threw it to the back of my mind.

When I returned to my Division compound, half the Division was already awake. I wondered if I should have a morning spar with Ikkaku to take my mind off my alliance matters, so I went in search for him. Turns out he was still sleeping, and I found Yachiru crouched over him, painting pink flowers on his bald head. She had two brushes with her, so I happily joined in and drew a pink moustache on his face. Then I added thick pink eyebrows and a beard. I would have preferred to use black, but Yachiru only had pink paint with her. Too bad for Ikkaku.

Then just as I was drawing pink circles around his eyes, he woke up. Yachiru and I quickly shunpo-ed away just as he started yawning. However, after a while of running, I realized he was chasing after me. Damn it. Why does Yachiru get away with this sort of stuff? Oh well~

"It's your fault for sleeping in~!" I yelled over my shoulder at Ikkaku and showed him a wide Cheshire Cat grin. Then I increased my pace and wove through the streets of Seireitei, with Ikkaku hot on my heels.

I am proud to say that Kuchiki-taichou's lessons gave me the advantage of speed. Ikkaku was extremely persistent though. Many a time I thought I lost him but then he'd appear again round some corner. Then…

"Western outskirts have received an unusual reaction! Warning—"

"Ah? An intruder alert?" Ikkaku commented as we halted in our tracks, our chase momentarily forgotten. Eh?

"That's odd… Why would there be intruders?" I wondered, more too myself than in reply to him.

"Well it's not like they'll actually be able to enter Seireitei… Hmm…" Ikkaku said, then turned away.

"Wait, where're you going?" I asked.

"To find Yumichika and the Captain. You know, in case the intruders do manage to enter."

I watched as he sped away. Well, no doubt if the intruders do manage to enter, they'd have to be really strong. They'd put up a good fight for us 11th Division members. But this was going to be a problem. If there was an intruder alert now, the Gotei 13 would be on their guard for at least the next few days. Which would make it harder for Ichigo and the rest to sneak into Seireitei 7 days from now… I quickly shunpo-ed towards the western part of Seireitei. Perhaps I should check on these intruders.

On my way there, I began to sense the reiatsu of certain shinigami, namely, Kira, Hisagi and Ichimaru, along with the reiatsu of some unidentified shinigami. Kira, Hisagi and the group of shinigami were further away, near the Hakudō gate. Ichimaru, however, was within sight. Now, should I call out to him or not?

I made my decision based on the fact that Aizen had warned me that my time as Chizuki was limited, and the fact that aside from Aizen himself, no one else knew about my Arrancar self. Which meant that even if I were probably going to be able to see Gin almost every day after we leave Soul Society, he'd be seeing Sangre, who is not Chizuki. Maybe I was just being selfish or wishful or just foolish, but then he did mention something about loneliness the last time we spoke, which would be last week… The point is, I'd like to think that he'd miss me when I'm gone. Chizuki-me. Okay, that was weird. But come to think about it, being Sangre felt different from being Chizuki. A side effect of being a Hollow perhaps? But that question would have to wait.

"I-_chi_-maru-saaan~~!"

Ichimaru Gin stopped, turned around, and stared at me like I had done something extremely ridiculous. Which I hadn't. Not really. Well maybe the way I called him sounded a bit too Akirai/Yachiru-ish. Too hyper and cheerful. What can I say? It was an impulse. In any case, it was quite funny, because it's not often you can catch that snake off guard.

"Yoruka-san?" Ichimaru said politely. Like he was either questioning my sanity or his hearing. I beamed at him, even more amused now.

"Are you on your way to the West Gate?" I asked.

"I think it would only be apt to greet the Ryoka trying to enter Seireitei," Ichimaru replied with a grin that suggested that _greeting _was not the only thing he was going to do. I raised an eyebrow.

"Greet? Are you sure you don't mean horribly maim or kill?"

"That would depend on the Gatekeeper himself~ Are you going to greet them too?" Eh? What…?

"Actually, how do you think the Ryoka got here and who are they?" I questioned.

"Probably through a Seikaimon, though they probably aren't shinigami, otherwise they wouldn't be Ryoka, so I would expect them not to have a jigokuchō to guide them, hence… They could be anyone~ Perhaps even people from the future~" Ichimaru suggested. I couldn't tell if he was serious or not. But apparently, he was, as he explained when he saw the disbelief painted all over my face.

"Ah… You didn't know? Time anomalies can occur due to travelling through the Dangai," he said. Time anomalies? I had a sudden feeling of dread, as I remembered the strange displaced feeling I felt earlier.

Suddenly, I sensed a large burst of reiatsu coming from the West Gate. It was the combined reiatsu of some stranger and someone familiar.

"Seems like the fight has started," Hisagi commented as he shunpo-ed past us along with a few other shinigami. Ah that's right, they were there at the West Gate earlier, weren't they?

"Who do you think will win?" Ichimaru asked me. Hmm? The Gatekeeper or Ichigo? (And yes, there was no doubt about it. I recognized that reiatsu.) Well, from what I have observed during my training sessions with him, I'd say Ichigo. But…

"I suppose… The correct answer would be Ichimaru-san?" I replied with a half-smirk. Ichimaru laughed and clapped.

"Are you trying to flatter me, Neko-chan?" I stared at him. Seems like I've gotten into his good books again…

"You're a captain. If you lost to either or them, you should be ashamed of yourself," I retorted. I wonder though, if Ichigo and Ichimaru fought, Ichimaru would probably win, even though Ichigo's insanely strong, but both of them will likely get severe injuries from such a match. I didn't like to think about that.

"True, true. But out of the two currently fighting, who do you think will win?"

"Probably the Ryoka. He-she-it seems stronger." Just then the reiatsu level dropped considerably. Ichimaru clapped again.

"And you're right! Looks like it's time for me to go and greet them," he commented. Then he glanced sideways at me. "Why do you seem worried?"

I blinked. "Worried? Why would I be worried? The 3rd Division Captain Ichimaru Gin is about to _greet _a bunch or Ryoka who defeated the Gatekeeper. Nope. Not worried at all."

Ichimaru merely grinned at my sarcasm and pointed out, "You just said I'd win."

"Yes… Who said I was worried about _you_?" Okay, that was a half-truth, because I really was more worried about Ichigo and company, but then, I also didn't want Ichimaru to get injured.

"Tell you what. Stay here, and I promise you that I'll return in five minutes," he said, like he was humoring me. But… how was that supposed to be comforting at all?

"… I suppose I'm expected to believe your promises?"

"Of course, and I'll prove it to you~" he replied and then he was on his way.

I spent the next five minutes focusing my senses on the West Gate. I didn't have a full view of the gate from where I was, but I could still see the top part of it. It was raised up by some measure, but it fell by a bit after I sensed Ichimaru's reiatsu rise. I felt his reiatsu drop, then rise again, along with Ichigo's. Then, the gate crashed down, and it was over. I waited for a few more seconds before I saw Ichimaru come into view. He shunpo-ed swiftly and landed lightly in front of me. Then he spread out his arms and hands with a wide grin.

"See? Five minutes, and not a single scratch nor drop of blood on me," he said. True enough, he was clean, unharmed and right on time. I gave him a questioning look and he laughed. "I did say I was going to _greet_ them."

"That's all you did? Say hello?" I couldn't help but feel suspicious.

"Well I may have sliced off the Gatekeeper's left arm in the process, and used Shinsō on them, but none of the Ryoka were harmed~ Although, I suppose they might have gotten _scratched_ if Kurosaki Ichigo hadn't used his sword to shield the attack… Still, you can relax~! We barely fought, the Ryoka have been prevented from entering, I think I did quite a good job! Ah that orange-haired kid was quite interesting though…"

Well, that pretty much confirmed it. The Ryoka were my friends. However… "You didn't kill them?"

"I said I didn't, didn't I?" he replied and patted my head with a grin, like I was some short little kid… Which I suppose I was, compared to him… I swatted his hand away.

"Well _thank you_, but… Aren't you supposed to kill them?" I was very glad he had spared them, though I couldn't imagine him doing so just to appease me. What could be his real reason for not killing them then? I'm pretty sure the Captain Commander would not be pleased to know that they're still alive _after_ meeting a _Captain_.

Ichimaru waved away my question. "Don't worry about that… I'll deal with it when the time comes~"

Right. No doubt he'll somehow get away with it. I felt my face twitch involuntarily. He was some sort of fox-snake hybrid after all.

"Something bothering ya?" he asked as he watched my face. My face twitched again.

"If this… Kurosaki person can defeat the Gatekeeper, and has a standard such that you find him interesting, isn't he going to be a trouble if he and the other Ryoka do somehow find another way into Seireitei?" I said.

"Maybe~ But in his current state, I doubt he'd be able to defeat a Captain… Or a lieutenant…" At that, he looked me over. I snorted and folded my arms across my chest.

"I'm not _that_ great, you know."

He laughed. "You finished six year's worth of shinigami training in less than two years, was assigned to a Division before graduating, became a seated member immediately after graduation, then became a lieutenant shortly thereafter… Not to mention defeat the 11th Division Captain more than once in sparring matches."

"I had great teachers!" I protested. He laughed again.

"Now don't be modest… Many are saying you're a prodigy, y'know."

I glared at him. "Right. I bet you're a prodigy too. How long did you take to graduate?"

If it were possible, I'd say he looked a little sheepish then. Ichimaru Gin? Sheepish? Yeah right.

"A year," he replied, his voice sounding so smug, it did not match his 'sheepish' grinning face. A year. That was even less than me!

"… How long before you became a seated member and what seat was that?"

"Ah… I got the third seat in the 5th Division almost immediately after graduation."

I couldn't decide if I was exasperated with him or not. But wait a minute… "Aizen-s-taichou's Division?" (Phew. Thank goodness. I nearly said –sama instead of –taichou…)

"Hai, though he wasn't the Captain then. He found me worthy of the seat when it became vacant."

I stared at him for a long time, scrutinizing his face. Somehow, what he said reminded me of how I became Segunda Espada. But if it were he, I doubt he'd be as merciful as I was to Barragan. So I asked, "The one who was the third seat of the 5th Division before you… Was he still alive when the seat became _vacant_?"

I didn't know if it was worrying or not that his smiley face froze for a second. He quickly recovered and laughed _again_, then patted me on the head _again_.

"See? You're a genius! But let's keep that as a little secret between us, okay?"

"What? Me being a genius or the third seat being coincidentally vacant when Aizen-taichou learnt of your awesomeness?" I deadpanned.

"The latter of course~" he said, then tilted his head to one side as he grinned at me. "You think I'm awesome?"

"I will keep it secret if you conveniently forget, or pretend to forget, that I ever hinted at your higher-than-average-uh…-character," I said hastily. "Though you could've just denied any involvement in the vacancy of the seat."

"It's a pity," Ichimaru mock-sighed. "So it looks like I'll just have to pretend I heard nothing… As for the… incident of the third seat, I wouldn't really mind if the truth got out, but since Aizen-taichou covered it up so nicely for me, it seems only appropriate to appreciate his efforts~"

I gave him an are-you-kidding-me look and managed to choke out, "Yeah… Aizen-taichou's quite a nice captain."

Is everything I do amusing to him? Wait, that smile's permanently on his face so it would only be fair to assume that everything's amusing to him.

"I'm surprised. You don't seem to have a very pleasant impression of him," Ichimaru commented. I sniffed.

"He's _pleasant_ alright… Just… maybe… he reminds me of a weasel."

Ichimaru's grin twitched, like he was trying not to burst into laughter. Not that it would make any difference, considering how he laughed at me so many times already.

Just then, Kira came shunpo-ing towards us. He stopped beside Ichimaru and said, "Ichimaru-taichou, Aizen-taichou is looking for you. He said he would like to have a conversation with you in his office."

"I'll be there," Ichimaru said as he waved Kira away, not seeming surprised at all that Aizen wanted to have a chat with him. Then he turned to me. "Should I tell Aizen-taichou of your opinion of him?"

"I would rather you didn't," I said, though Aizen probably already knew what me opinion of him was.

"Alright, I was just kidding," Ichimaru chuckled. "Then I should be off. See ya some other time?"

"Uh yeah..." I replied. "Wait… Is it really okay for me to call you 'Hebi-kun'?"

"Hmm...? I thought we established when we first met, that I could call you 'Neko-chan' only if you were allowed to call me 'Hebi-kun'," he said.

"Ah… I'll take that as a yes. By the way, do you know that Yachiru calls you 'Creepy-taichou'?" I said.

Ichimaru looked delighted, if anything. "Really? Well I don't recall ever talking to her before. Do you find me creepy?"

"… A little. Maybe. There's someone else creepier than you," I replied.

"Eh? Who?"

I shooed him away. "None of your business. Now go find Aizen-taichou! You're making him wait."

"Fine. Bye bye, Neko-chan~" He waved as he left.

"Ja~ Hebi-kun," I replied as I waved back. Then he shunpo-ed away.

…

Two days later, I heard that Rukia has been transferred to the Repent Tower of the Shishin Jail. We had fourteen more days before her execution. Which meant that if Ichigo and the rest of them wanted to rescue her, they'll have to somehow break into the jail, reach her cell, then bring her back out and run/fight for their lives, all within 14 days.

I was getting fidgety as the day passed, as I knew something big was going to happen sooner or later, but it had yet to occur. And the day remained relatively (and annoyingly) peaceful until the afternoon.

"Attention, all captains! Attention, all captains! Your presence is required for an emergency meeting I repeat…"

A meeting? Could it be about Ichimaru and the Ryoka? I looked up from the book I was reading and walked around the Division compound. I met Yachiru who dashed past me.

"Wait! Yachiru! Where're you going?" I called out to her.

"I'm gonna follow Ken-chan!" she yelled back in reply.

"Eh? But the meeting's only for captains?"

"I'll just wait for him outside~" And she was off like a pink and black bullet.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. Before I even considered if I should follow her or go back to reading, another announcement was made.

"Attention, all lieutenants! You are to head to Conference Room 2 and remain on standby until further notification! I repeat…"

Huh? Why were we lieutenants needed? And… what were the chances of Yachiru following this order and going to Conference Room 2? I thought about it. Nil. Looks like I've gotta go there myself.

"HEY!" yelled Ikkaku as I shunpo-ed past him. "Wanna spar with me?"

I stopped mid-step.

"Didn't you hear? I just got summoned to Conference Room 2 so I don't have time to spar with you at the moment," I apologized to him. He glared at me.

"Summoned? What for?" Ikkaku asked.

"No idea. All lieutenants just supposed to stay on standby there," I replied. Ikkaku made a face.

"Sounds boring."

"Yeah. Maybe I should find Yachiru and the captain instead…"

"You're starting to become like Yachiru," Ikkaku commented. "Following the captain around most of the time."

"_Most of the time._ Not all the time. I've yet to ride on Kenpachi's shoulder too," I laughed. "Well, it's usually more fun with them, plus they'll just get lost without me."

"True, true. You're pretty much like a cat then. Yachiru's and Matsumoto's nickname for you is quite appropriate."

"I'll take that as a compliment, Ikkaku," I said, grinning (like a Cheshire Cat). "By the way, do help me spread this to the others: Don't ever mention my name to the Ryoka. They're probably going to come again, and you guys'll probably fight them sooner or later."

"Your name? But why?" Ikkaku asked.

"If you fight them, and lose, what will happen next?"

"I won't lose. But if I do, I guess I… die?"

"… Assuming you don't die."

"Oh, well, maybe, warn them about the captain and—_oh_." Ikkaku smirked. "Let me guess, you don't want to have to bother fighting the Ryoka, so it's better for them not to know your identity. What a lazy lieutenant we have."

Well that was not entirely true, but it was the excuse I was going to give anyway, so I smiled sheepishly.

"Of course I'll fight them if they attack me, but I'd rather that didn't happen. There are plenty of captains and other lieutenants around to deal with them anyway."

Ikkaku sighed dramatically. "Okay, so it'll be fine if we beat them to a pulp? You won't have to deal with them then."

"_If_ you can beat them to a pulp. If not, just direct them to the captain. He'll definitely enjoy fighting them," I replied, then waved. "Ja~ I'd better go now~"

After that, I shunpo-ed away, towards the 1st Division compound.

…

I met Renji on my way to Conference Room 2. The both of us were running and wearing our lieutenant's badge at the same time. It was also both our first times wearing the badge, since it wasn't compulsory to wear it (and it attracted less unnecessary attention).

"Hmm… I don't know if I should feel proud to be able to wear it or be worried that I have to wear it," Renji was saying to me when we met a Shinigami wearing sunglasses along the hallway leading to the conference room. His lieutenant badge stated that he was from the 7th Division.

"This is the first time I've been forced to wear a lieutenant badge," the shinigami commented. Then he stared at me.

"So you're the new 11th Division lieutenant…?"

"Hai. Yoruka Chizuki, nice to meet you," I replied.

"Iba Tetsuzaemon, nice to meet you too," the Shinigami said and we entered the conference room. Oh. I think I recognized that name. Shortly after I became lieutenant, I was told about the previous fourth seat of the 11th Division who transferred to the 7th Division because he wanted to become a lieutenant. Some of our Division members looked down on him because our Division feels that other Divisions are 'weaker' (which of course, isn't true). But apparently, getting promoted to lieutenant of the 11th Division was more difficult, if not impossible. Then there was me, the newbie who got the seat of lieutenant without really breaking much sweat. Now why does that makes me sound like a bad guy…? I felt kind of bad for Iba…

There was only one person sitting in the room when we got there: Hinamori Momo, Aizen's lieutenant.

"Hi Iba-san, Yoruka-san. Hi Renji," she greeted us as we entered.

"Ah? Hinamori-san, you're the only one here?" I asked.

"Hai, seems like it…" she replied.

"Captains and lieutenants are running all over Soul Society. It'll take more than a day for some of us to arrive," Matsumoto said as she entered behind us. "I haven't been able to contact my captain at all."

"Who's your captain again?" Renji asked absent-mindedly. I whacked him on the side of his head (since I couldn't reach the top).

"It's Hitsugaya-taichou! How could you forget? We celebrated his birthday last year, remember?" I scolded him.

"Oh right, the genius kid captain," Renji muttered, somewhat grumpily as he rubbed the spot where he got whacked.

"Renji… Have you seen my captain?" Hinamori asked.

"Aizen-taichou? No, I haven't," he replied and glanced questioningly at me. I shook my head and lied, "I haven't seen him either. Why?"

"Eh… It's just that he's been acting strange… He was strange all morning… He wouldn't tell me why. I… Don't know what to do…" Hinamori said, worriedly, looking like she might start crying soon. Seriously, how did that weasel-captain get such a lieutenant? He definitely didn't deserve her. Poor Hinamori.

"Don't worry. It's probably nothing," Renji said, though he himself looked worried. But Hinamori's worry seemed like the caring kind of worry, whereas Renji's worry seemed more like the suspicious kind of worry. And that made me suspicious. What has Aizen been up to to make his lieutenant worry, and arouse suspicion in Renji?

"By the way, why are you alone, Cheshā-chan?" Matsumoto asked. Eh?

"Yeah, where's the other 11th Division lieutenant?" Iba added.

"Yachiru?" Renji prompted when my face remained blank. I blinked. Were they seriously asking me this?

"You mean the pink-haired girl who is always following Kenpachi around on his shoulder?" I pretended to ask. Renji facepalmed while Matsumoto sighed.

"Right. But I'm sure you know she's not _always _with him," Renji said, exasperatedly. I laughed.

"Well last I heard, she was going to wait outside the 1st Division meeting room for him…"

"Outside the 1st Division meeting room?" Everyone stared at me. Oh. _Ohhh_. I thought back to what Matsumoto and Hinamori said. They didn't know. But how could they _not_ know? Wasn't that announcement loud and clear for everyone to hear? Then there were people like Ikkaku, and apparently Matsumoto, Renji and Hinamori too.

"All the captains are currently having a meeting in the 1st Division compound," I explained. I did not add that it was probably something to do with Ichimaru's encounter with the Ryoka. I do hope that he wouldn't get into too much trouble for that, though knowing him, even if he was in trouble, he'd escape it somehow. Of course, I didn't know how true that would be until a few seconds after I had that thought.

The sound of a gong could be heard ringing throughout Seireitei. This was followed by an announcement: "Emergency! Emergency! Intruder in the Seireitei! All guardsmen to battle stations! I repeat! Emergency alarm! Intruder in Seireitei!"

"WHAT?!" Renji exclaimed.

"An intruder?!" Hinamori voiced our thoughts. Could it be the Ryoka again? Such timing though… it seemed too soon for Ichigo and the rest to have figured out a way into Seireitei without facing another Gatekeeper. Unless they are actually facing another Gatekeeper and did not learn from experience as they should have…

All of us left the conference room quickly and headed off to find our respective captains. I found Kenpachi easily. He was running, with Yachiru perched on his shoulder as usual, no doubt searching for the Ryoka for a good fight.

"Cheshā-chan~! We're in search for the Ryoka!" Yachiru greeted cheerfully.

"Yachiru! The others were asking about your absence!" I told her and she merely giggled.

"So how was the meeting?" I asked Kenpachi.

"Ah can you believe it? That Ichimaru-snake said he didn't know that the Ryoka he faced didn't die. He claimed that he was careless!" Kenpachi said. I considered telling him that Ichimaru may have left the Ryoka alive to humor me, then decided against it.

"And the verdict?"

"None at the moment. We were interrupted by the alarm." Oh how convenient. And that made me wonder if the alarm could be a false alarm… But that would mean that this was planned much earlier, which would mean that Ichimaru had some other reason for leaving the Ryoka alive… Which means… Oh to hell with it. My head hurts from thinking too much. Might as well just go with the flow.

"Ken-chan is looking forward to meeting the Ryoka~! Since they survived an encounter with Ichimaru-san they should be pretty strong!" Yachiru told me as we searched Seireitei for the Ryoka. Other 11th Division members had join in the search, though Ikkaku and Yumichika were nowhere to be seen.

We searched all night but found no Ryoka. I didn't sense any of their reiatsu throughout the search. When Kenpachi finally called off the search and was about to dismiss the other 11th Division members, we heard a high-pitch screeching sound that grated on my nerves. The sound came from above us and when we looked up, we could see a small white glowing orb (that wasn't the moon) in the sky, descending down upon Seireitei.

* * *

**So how was it? Please review and feel free to leave any comments (constructive criticism especially welcomed XD)! E.g. Were the conversations took long? Paragraphs too long and text-wall-ish?**

** A recent guest user left a really nice review (THANK YOU WHOEVER YOU ARE! BLESS YOUR KIND SOUL!) about Chizuki's development and I really appreciate it ^_^ ****Well, the guest user also asked how strong I'd make my OC be, compared to Ichigo. **

**The answer: just as strong, if not less strong. I know it won't be nice if Ichigo hogs the spotlight, but he's ridiculously strong. He's like, human, shinigami, hollow, fulbringer, and Quincy all at once. I don't want my OC to be too unrealistic. But don't worry~ Chii will almost always have the spotlight, even if she's not as powerful~ I hope you're okay with that...**


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